Playback is an album released in 1983

1983 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.-January-April:*January – ZTT Records is founded.*January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization...

 by synthpop

Synthpop

Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 band SSQ

SSQ (band)

SSQ was a 1980s synthpop outfit formed from the already-in-existence band Q .-Biography:The original Q project was composed of Stacey Swain as lead singer, Jon St. James on guitars, and Dan Van Patten and John Van Tongeren on vocoder and synthesizer...

. The album was released on both Enigma Records

Enigma Records

Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...

 and EMI America Records.

"Synthicide", "Big Electronic Beat" and "Clockwork" appeared on the soundtrack of the 1984

1984 in film

-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....

 film Hardbodies

Hardbodies

Hardbodies is a 1984 sex comedy film about three middle-aged men who hire a younger man to help them pick up women at the beach. The film was directed by Mark Griffiths, and stars Grant Cramer, Courtney Gains, and Gary Wood...

. "Synthicide" and "Anonymous" appeared on the soundtrack of the 1985

1985 in film

-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...

 film Cavegirl.

Track listing

1. "Synthicide" (J. St. James) (3:36)
2. "Jet Town" (J. St. James, J. Van Tongeren
   John Van Tongeren
   John Van Tongeren is a music composer, mainly for films and television series.- Biography :Van Tongeren began his career as one of the original members of Media Ventures . During his time at Media Ventures Van Tongeren worked on films such as Thelma and Louise, True Romance and Drop Zone with Hans...
   
   ) (3:40)
3. "Big Electronic Beat" (J. St. James, J. Van Tongeren) (3:30)
4. "Clockwork" (J. St. James) (5:28)
5. "Screaming In My Pillow" (J. St. James, E. Roberts) (4:19)
6. "Anonymous" (J. Van Tongeren, J. St. James) (3:54)
7. "Walkman On" (J. St. James, J. Van Tongeren) (3:40)
8. "N'Importe Quoi" (J. St. James, M. Hamel) (2:56)

SSQ

• Stacey Q - vocals
• Jon St. James - guitars, synth, vocals
• John Van Tongeren - synth
• Rich West - synth
• Karl Moet - drum systems

Versions

The first version of Playback is an LP released on Enigma Records (catalog no. E 1046). It was a gatefold LP that featured the eight songs listed above.

The second version is an LP on EMI America records (catalog no. ST-17114). It featured the same eight songs as the Enigma release.

A cassette version of Playback was also released on both EMI America and Enigma Records. It included two tracks that didn't appear on the LP: A cover of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

's "Fire," and an instrumental track called "Synth Samurai" which is essentially an early version of the album's debut single, "Synthicide".

Singles

• "Synthicide" (EMI America - 12" and 7" singles)
• "Big Electronic Beat" (Enigma - 12" and 7" singles)

Music videos

Music videos were released for both "Synthicide" and "Screaming In My Pillow." There were three different videos released for "Screaming In My Pillow": The first version was a PG-13-rated version that received airplay on MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

. A more controversial, "uncensored" version was aired on Playboy TV

Playboy TV

Playboy TV is a premium monthly subscription television channel. Since its launch in 1982 in partnership with Cablevision which eventually sold their share back to Playboy, Playboy TV has become a leading entertainment channel for adult entertainment...

 depicting full-frontal nudity and lesbianism by Stacey Swain and an unknown model

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

. A third video, called the NC-17 version, was considered too graphic for mainstream airplay. It was included on Red Hot Rock, a VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

compilation of uncensored music videos.