Pop Muzik
Encyclopedia
"Pop Muzik" is a 1979 hit song by M
, a project by Robin Scott
.
The single was released in the UK first, peaking at number 2 on 12 May 1979, unable to break Art Garfunkel's 6 week stint at number 1 with "Bright Eyes
". In August of that same year, it was released in North America
, where it eventually climbed all the way to number one in Canada
on 27 October and in the U.S. on 3 November.
Along with Scott, other musicians who played on the track were his brother Julian Scott (on bass), then unknown keyboardist Wally Badarou
, Canadian synthesiser programmer John Lewis (who died of AIDS
in 1985) and Brigit Novik, the backing vocalist.
The single was bolstered by a promotional video that was well received in its day; the clip featured Scott as a DJ singing into a microphone from behind an exaggerated turntable setup, at times flanked by two female models who sang and danced in a robotic manner. One of the sight gags in the video depicted Brigit Novik dressed in blue who actually recorded the backup vocals which are then mimed by the models.
The single's B-side, "M Factor", was featured in two different versions. The original cut appeared on the first UK and European releases of the single, while a slightly remixed version appeared on the single released in the United States and Canada.
The image of the baby on "Pop Muzik"'s single disc pictures Robin Scott's daughter, named Berenice, actually a singer and piano/keyboard player and composer herself, and involved with his father's friend Phil Gould and Wally Badarou projects.
, Switzerland, at Queen
's Mountain Studio, using their regular engineer David Richards, as well as Julian Scott, Wally Badarou
(who would later work with Level 42
and Compass Point All Stars, among others) and Brigit Novik. Additional musicians on the album included drummer Phil Gould
(later of Level 42
), Gary Barnacle on saxophone and flute and (at the time) local Montreux resident David Bowie
, who did occasional handclaps. The album was also released in the U.S. on Sire Records
(with a different track listing / order) but it was not a commercial success.
version was notable for the A-side having a double groove such that the two tracks ("Pop Muzik" and "M Factor") both started at the outer edge of the record and finished in the middle (with a long silence at the end of "M Factor" since the track was the shorter of the two). This resulted in a random selection of the two tracks, depending on which groove the needle landed in the lead-in.
To further market this idea, the UK record sleeve stated "B side included on A side, full length disco mix of Pop Musik on Seaside".
'Seaside' (in other words "C side") was a simple play on words as the letter C, apart from being the logical next "side" after the A and B sides, is pronounced the same way as the English word "sea", and "seaside" means "beside the sea".
on 18 June 1988. It reached a peak position of number 63, and remained in the chart for 2 weeks.
and EMI
in Europe.
, and as a 12" vinyl in France by Pathé Marconi
EMI
, both featuring a longer version of the song.
. The B-side "M Factor" was featured on the A-side of the vinyl on this release, with a remix of the title song on the B-side.
M (band)
M was English musician Robin Scott's brief but very successful new wave/synthpop project in the late 1970s and early 1980s. M is most known for the 1979 hit "Pop Muzik", which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1979, and #1 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on 3 November 1979...
, a project by Robin Scott
Robin Scott
Robin Scott , lead singer and founder of a music project he called M, is a singer originally from the United Kingdom. His career encompasses four decades.-Early life:...
.
Concept and chart performance
Robin Scott describes the genesis of "Pop Muzik" this way:
I was looking to make a fusion of various styles which somehow would summarise the last 25 years of pop music. It was a deliberate point I was trying to make. Whereas rock and roll had created a generation gap, disco was bringing people together on an enormous scale. That's why I really wanted to make a simple, bland statement, which was, 'All we're talking about basically (is) pop music.
The single was released in the UK first, peaking at number 2 on 12 May 1979, unable to break Art Garfunkel's 6 week stint at number 1 with "Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes (Art Garfunkel song)
"Bright Eyes" is a song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel. It was used in the soundtrack of the 1978 film Watership Down and as such is considered the theme song of the film and the later television series adaptations. The track also appears on Garfunkel's fourth studio album,...
". In August of that same year, it was released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, where it eventually climbed all the way to number one in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on 27 October and in the U.S. on 3 November.
Along with Scott, other musicians who played on the track were his brother Julian Scott (on bass), then unknown keyboardist Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou is a musician from Benin.-Biography:A synthesiser specialist, Badarou was the longtime associate of the British band Level 42, known for its blend of funk, pop, soul and rock...
, Canadian synthesiser programmer John Lewis (who died of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in 1985) and Brigit Novik, the backing vocalist.
The single was bolstered by a promotional video that was well received in its day; the clip featured Scott as a DJ singing into a microphone from behind an exaggerated turntable setup, at times flanked by two female models who sang and danced in a robotic manner. One of the sight gags in the video depicted Brigit Novik dressed in blue who actually recorded the backup vocals which are then mimed by the models.
The single's B-side, "M Factor", was featured in two different versions. The original cut appeared on the first UK and European releases of the single, while a slightly remixed version appeared on the single released in the United States and Canada.
The image of the baby on "Pop Muzik"'s single disc pictures Robin Scott's daughter, named Berenice, actually a singer and piano/keyboard player and composer herself, and involved with his father's friend Phil Gould and Wally Badarou projects.
Album
The subsequent full-length album New York • London • Paris • Munich was recorded in MontreuxMontreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, Switzerland, at Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's Mountain Studio, using their regular engineer David Richards, as well as Julian Scott, Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou is a musician from Benin.-Biography:A synthesiser specialist, Badarou was the longtime associate of the British band Level 42, known for its blend of funk, pop, soul and rock...
(who would later work with Level 42
Level 42
Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
and Compass Point All Stars, among others) and Brigit Novik. Additional musicians on the album included drummer Phil Gould
Phil Gould (musician)
Philip Gabriel Gould, also known as Phil Gould is a British professional drummer, song writer, and singer from the Isle of Wight in southern England...
(later of Level 42
Level 42
Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
), Gary Barnacle on saxophone and flute and (at the time) local Montreux resident David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, who did occasional handclaps. The album was also released in the U.S. on Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
(with a different track listing / order) but it was not a commercial success.
Other formats
The UK 12-inch single12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
version was notable for the A-side having a double groove such that the two tracks ("Pop Muzik" and "M Factor") both started at the outer edge of the record and finished in the middle (with a long silence at the end of "M Factor" since the track was the shorter of the two). This resulted in a random selection of the two tracks, depending on which groove the needle landed in the lead-in.
To further market this idea, the UK record sleeve stated "B side included on A side, full length disco mix of Pop Musik on Seaside".
'Seaside' (in other words "C side") was a simple play on words as the letter C, apart from being the logical next "side" after the A and B sides, is pronounced the same way as the English word "sea", and "seaside" means "beside the sea".
Remixes and covers
A cover version by male vocal and instrumental band All Systems Go entered the UK Singles ChartUK 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 ...
on 18 June 1988. It reached a peak position of number 63, and remained in the chart for 2 weeks.
- The Barron KnightsBarron KnightsThe Barron Knights is a British humorous pop group, originally formed in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire as The Knights of the Round Table....
recorded a brief parody of Pop Muzik ("Chop SueyChop sueyChop suey is a Chinese dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce...
") as part of their comedy medley "Food for Thought". - Other remixes and remakes recorded by other artists have come from all sides since its creation, including Marcus' "Pop Muzic 2001", eX-GirlEX-Girl-Overview:They claim to hail from the planet Kero Kero. They are described as psychedelic, space rock, jazz fusion, jagged alternating vocal harmonies, sugary synthesiser pop, punk, prog, epic/atmospheric, noise-rock, wavering 3 part a capella, borderline operatic vocals, often in the space of a...
in 2001, and by Junior VasquezJunior VasquezJunior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...
and the Dub Pistols in 2003. - A technoTechnoTechno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
remix of the original MM (band)M was English musician Robin Scott's brief but very successful new wave/synthpop project in the late 1970s and early 1980s. M is most known for the 1979 hit "Pop Muzik", which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1979, and #1 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on 3 November 1979...
track by Steve OsborneSteve OsborneSteve Osborne is a multi-platinum selling British record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, such as New Order, Doves, U2 and KT Tunstall. During the 1990s, Osborne was half of the Perfecto Records team, a production and remix collaboration with Paul Oakenfold; the artists...
was used by U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
during the introduction to each concert on their 1997-1998 PopMart TourPopmart TourThe PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 1997 album, Pop, the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks from 1997 through 1998...
. The remix was later released as the "Pop Mart Mix" on U2's "Last Night on EarthLast Night on Earth-Chart performance:-See also:*List of covers of U2 songs - Last Night on Earth*List of RPM Rock/Alternative number-one singles...
" single, with new vocals by BonoBonoPaul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and slightly altered lyrics. - TrickyTrickyTricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
released a cover version of the song as a B-side to his 1999 single "For Real". - A cover of "Pop Muzik" by 3rd Party appeared on the soundtrack album to the 1998 movie A Night at the RoxburyA Night at the RoxburyA Night at the Roxbury is a 1998 comedy film based on a recurring skit on television's long-running Saturday Night Live called "The Roxbury Guys." Saturday Night Live regulars Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, and Colin Quinn star....
. - A version of this song is performed in the stage musical, Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical by Cynthia for the ping pong scene in the pub.
- In 2001, MTV used a new version for one of the special programs aired to celebrate the channel's 20th anniversary. The lyrics were altered mentioning popular pop artists, mostly at the time, but also for the past 20 years, including Britney Spears, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.
- In 2009, a CD of remixes by various artists was released to celebrate the song's 30th anniversary.
- British pop punk band Buck BrothersBuck BrothersBuck Brothers are a British three piece band. The band's sound is a mixture of pop, punk and rock music.-History:Buck Brothers formed early in 2005 via a chance meeting at the unlikely location of a Buddhist Disco in a North London....
released a cover of the song to promote their first tour of America in March 2008. They are planning to release a new revised version of the cover (featuring new guitarist Dom Beckford) in 2011. - There is in some cases a misconception that the Band DevoDevoDevo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
actually made the song this however is not true, but Devo did release a remix of Pop Muzik on the aforementioned remix CD. - We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use ItWe've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use ItWe've Got A Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It were an English alternative rock group. Formed in Birmingham in 1985, the all-female quartet originally consisted of Vix, Maggie Dunne, Jo Dunne and Tina O'Neill. The band's name was shortened to Fuzzbox for the U.S. release of their first album...
used the song as the first single of their 2010 reunion.
Original 7" single
Original 7" single released by MCA RecordsMCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
and EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in Europe.
- Pop Muzik – 3:21
- M Factor – 2:30
Long version single
Single released as a 7" vinyl in the United States by Sire RecordsSire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, and as a 12" vinyl in France by Pathé Marconi
Pathé Records
Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, both featuring a longer version of the song.
- Pop Muzik (Long Version) – 4:58
- M Factor – 2:30
Netherlands 12" single
12" single released in the Netherlands by MCA RecordsMCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
. The B-side "M Factor" was featured on the A-side of the vinyl on this release, with a remix of the title song on the B-side.
- Pop Muzik
- M Factor
- Pop Muzik (Long Version)
Sweden 7" 1989 release
7" single released in Sweden in 1989 by Freestyle Records.- Pop Muzik (Edited 1989 Remix) – 3:10
- Pop Muzik (Original 7" Version) – 3:20
Sweden 12" 1989 release
12" single released in Sweden in 1989 by Freestyle Records.- Pop Muzik (Extended 1989 Hip Hop Remix) – 5:40
- Pop Muzik (7" Version) – 3:20
- Pop Muzik (Edited 1989 Dub Remix) – 3:20
- Pop Muzik (Original 12" Version) – 5:00
- Pop Muzik (Edited 1989 Remix) – 3:10
Germany 12" 1989 release
12" single released in Germany in 1989 by ZYX Records.- Pop Muzik (The Hip Hop Club Remix) – 5:38
- Pop Muzik (The Hip Hop Remix) – 3:20
- Pop Muzik (Original '79 Mix) – 3:21
Germany CD 2001 release
CD single released in Germany in 2001 by ZYX Records.- Pop Muzik (Britannia '89 Remix) - 3:11
- Pop Muzik (Cabinet Remix) - 7:38
- Pop Muzik (Original Version) - 3:21