Classix Nouveaux
Encyclopedia
Classix Nouveaux were an English
1980s new wave
band
. They had number one hits
in Poland
, Portugal
, the former Yugoslavia
, Israel
, Iceland
, and other countries. In the UK
they had various Top 50 successes, but only one Top 20 hit with "Is It A Dream", which peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart
in April 1982.
triggered an advertisement placed in Melody Maker
, searching for a new lead singer. Sal Solo
(formerly with The News
) answered the advertisement. Jak Airport and B.P. Hurding left X-Ray Spex to form Classix Nouveaux with Mik Sweeney and Sal Solo. Their first gig
was on 25 August 1979 at Camden Palace
. With publicity growing for the band, their dramatic and heavily made-up image quickly helped associate them with the New Romantic
movement, alongside bands such as Japan
and Ultravox
. In 1980, the band recorded a four track session for Capital Radio
and one track, "Robots Dance", was played regularly by DJ Nicky Horne
. This got the interest of A&R
at United Artists
, but as negotiations dragged on Classix decided to release the track as their debut single
on their own ESP label. "Robot's Dance" was released on 29 August and, when negotiations with UA were finalised, by EMI. They also performed for the first time on television on Thames TV in London
. "Robot's Dance" spent eleven weeks on the UK Indie Chart
, reaching #22, and became a popular alternative dance floor track. The group's second single, "Nasty Little Green Men", followed on 10 November 1980.
single, "Is It A Dream". The band toured worldwide.
by Alex Sadkin
, featuring tracks such as "Never Never Comes" and "Heart From The Start". They become one of the first modern bands to perform in communist Poland
.
After Classix Nouveaux's break up Solo went on to record and perform with French/Italian space-rock and electronic band Rockets during 1983-84, before becoming heavily involved in Catholicism
, and releasing several Christian-oriented albums.
Mik Sweeney moved to Los Angeles
, California
where he built fret
less basses
and did studio session
work; he currently lives in Ireland
. Gary Steadman went on to join A Flock of Seagulls
. Jimi Sumen became a record producer
in Finland
and released a number of solo works there.
The first Classix Nouveaux compilation album
was released in 1997 via EMI Records and was reissued with a slightly different track listing in 2003. Beginning that same year, the band's original albums saw reissue on CD
by Cherry Red Records. In 2005 River Records released The River Sessions, a live album
recorded at Strathclyde University in 1982 and, in January 2010, all the band's singles and associated B-sides
saw release as The Liberty Singles Collection, again via Cherry Red Records.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
1980s new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
. They had number one hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, the former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, and other countries. In the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
they had various Top 50 successes, but only one Top 20 hit with "Is It A Dream", which peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in April 1982.
Formation
The breakup of X-Ray SpexX-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
triggered an advertisement placed in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, searching for a new lead singer. Sal Solo
Sal Solo
Sal Solo Sal Solo Sal Solo (born Christopher Scott Stevens, 5 September 1961, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England is an English singer.-Career:Solo began his career with an obscure band called The News, who only released one 7" single on GTO Records...
(formerly with The News
The News (band)
The News was a short-lived New Wave band formed in 1977, by Sam Smith , Graham Culpin , Lindsay Elliott , Richard James Burgess and Michael Taylor .In the early days of 1978, the band signed a recording contract with GTO and, in the first weeks of the year, they recorded...
) answered the advertisement. Jak Airport and B.P. Hurding left X-Ray Spex to form Classix Nouveaux with Mik Sweeney and Sal Solo. Their first gig
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
was on 25 August 1979 at Camden Palace
Camden Palace
KOKO is a nightclub in a former theatre in Camden Town, London, England, at the bottom of Camden High Street close to Mornington Crescent tube station. Until 2004 it was called the Camden Palace. The building is considered to have some architectural significance and is a Grade II listed...
. With publicity growing for the band, their dramatic and heavily made-up image quickly helped associate them with the New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
movement, alongside bands such as Japan
Japan (band)
Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...
and Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
. In 1980, the band recorded a four track session for Capital Radio
Capital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...
and one track, "Robots Dance", was played regularly by DJ Nicky Horne
Nicky Horne
Nicky Horne was a road manager for Emperor Rosko in 1969, before presenting shows on BBC Radio 1, from 1970 - 1973.Horne was one of the original line-up on London's Capital Radio, where he presented shows such as Your Mother Wouldn't like it, Mummy's Weekly & 6 of the Best...
. This got the interest of A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
at United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, but as negotiations dragged on Classix decided to release the track as their debut single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
on their own ESP label. "Robot's Dance" was released on 29 August and, when negotiations with UA were finalised, by EMI. They also performed for the first time on television on Thames TV in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. "Robot's Dance" spent eleven weeks on the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
, reaching #22, and became a popular alternative dance floor track. The group's second single, "Nasty Little Green Men", followed on 10 November 1980.
Night People
In 1981, the band released their debut album, Night People, featuring the single "Guilty".La Verité
Releasing their next album, La Verité, in 1982, led to the release of their highest UK chartRecord chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
single, "Is It A Dream". The band toured worldwide.
Secret
In 1983 the album Secret was released, producedRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Alex Sadkin
Alex Sadkin
Alex Sadkin is best remembered as a record producer in the early 1980s, but actually got his start in the music industry as a saxophonist for the Las Olas Brass in Fort Lauderdale, Florida....
, featuring tracks such as "Never Never Comes" and "Heart From The Start". They become one of the first modern bands to perform in communist Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Breakup
Band members continued to come and go, and by the end of the band's existence Sal Solo was the only original member remaining.After Classix Nouveaux's break up Solo went on to record and perform with French/Italian space-rock and electronic band Rockets during 1983-84, before becoming heavily involved in Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, and releasing several Christian-oriented albums.
Mik Sweeney moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where he built fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
less basses
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and did studio session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
work; he currently lives in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Gary Steadman went on to join A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls are an English New Wave band originally formed by brothers Michael "Mike" Score and Alister "Ali" James Score , with Frank Maudsley , Michael Kuby , H.J...
. Jimi Sumen became a record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and released a number of solo works there.
The first Classix Nouveaux compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
was released in 1997 via EMI Records and was reissued with a slightly different track listing in 2003. Beginning that same year, the band's original albums saw reissue on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by Cherry Red Records. In 2005 River Records released The River Sessions, a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
recorded at Strathclyde University in 1982 and, in January 2010, all the band's singles and associated B-sides
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
saw release as The Liberty Singles Collection, again via Cherry Red Records.
Albums
| UK Release | Album | UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
|---|---|---|
| May 1981 | Night People | 66 |
| April 1982 | La Verité | 44 |
| November 1983 | Secret | - |
| 1997 | The Very Best of Classix Nouveaux | - |
| 2003 | The Very Best of Classix Nouveaux (reissue) | - |
| 2006 | The River Sessions | - |
| January 2010 | The Liberty Singles Collection | - |
Singles
| UK Release | Song | UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|---|---|---|
| August 1980 | "The Robots Dance" | - |
| November 1980 | "Nasty Little Green Men" | - |
| February 1981 | "Guilty" | 43 |
| April 1981 | "Tokyo" | 67 |
| July 1981 | "Inside Outside" | 45 |
| October 1981 | "Never Again (The Days Time Erased)" | 44 |
| March 1982 | "Is It A Dream" | 11 |
| May 1982 | "Because You're Young" | 43 |
| October 1982 | "The End...Or The Beginning" | 60 |
| 1983 | "Forever And A Day" | - |
| 1983 | "Never Never Comes" | - |
See also
- List of New Wave bands and artists
- O.T.T.O.T.T.O.T.T. was a late-night adult version of the anarchic ATV children's show Tiswas, but made by its ITV franchise successor Central Television. It was broadcast at 11.00pm on Saturday nights for one series in 1982. O.T.T. was created and presented by Chris Tarrant, and also starred ex-Tiswasians John...
- List of Liberty Records artists