The Blow Monkeys
Encyclopedia
The Blow Monkeys are a British new wave
band that formed in 1981 as a new wave-oriented act. The first single, "Live Today Love Tomorrow" was released in 1982. They subsequently recorded more commercial pop rock hit makers, and finally became a dance group, shortly before splitting up at the beginning of the 1990s. They broke through with the UK and US Top 40 hit "Digging Your Scene", which hit #14 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart in August, 1986. They went on to place eleven singles and four albums in the UK charts between 1986 and 1990.
In late 2007, the original band members reunited, releasing a new album and going on tour in 2008.
, England) the group formed in 1981, upon Howard's return to the United Kingdom, after spending his teen years in Australia. The other members are Mick Anker on bass guitar
, Neville Henry on saxophone
, and Tony Kiley on drums
.
In 1984, they released their debut album, Limping for a Generation
, characterized by a dark mood, and a mix of pop rock and new wave, but their first hit came two years later, in 1986, with "Digging Your Scene", from their second album, Animal Magic (which reached number 21 in the UK Albums Chart
). The single attracted attention for the topical lyrics, dealing with the AIDS
-fuelled backlash against gay
people. It peaked at number 14 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 7 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. In addition, it reached a high of number 12 in the UK Singles Chart, number 24 in Italy and number 25 in Germany.
In January 1987, She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter, the band's third album was released; it reached number 20 in the UK, thanks to its biggest hit, "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way", which reached number 5 in the UK (and number 28 in Italy), although it never charted in the United States. However, it did feature in the film, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
.
Another noteworthy track, "You Don't Own Me" was used on the platinum
selling Dirty Dancing
soundtrack.
Outside of the group (though actually included on their fourth album, Whoops! There Goes the Neighbourhood), a successful single release by Robert Howard was "Wait", that featured early Chicago House
diva
, Kym Mazelle
, on female lead vocals. The record was an early British recording in the subgenre dubbed UK garage
. The track reached number 7 in the UK chart. It would later re-appear on the Blow Monkeys' first greatest hits album, Choices - The Singles Collection, their highest-charting record, reaching Number 5 in the UK Albums Chart in 1989.
The band split up in late 1990, shortly after the release of their fifth album, Springtime for the World (an EP of the same name also came out, collecting all three singles from the album). After briefly recording with Dee C. Lee
, as Slam Slam, Dr. Robert went solo. He contributed to Paul Weller's solo debut album, and co-wrote material with both Weller and Lee. Another notable collaborator was Beth Orton
.
On 18 November 2007, the original band members announced the reunion of the Blow Monkeys, as well as a new album Devil's Tavern and a tour in 2008. The album was funded by the pre-orders placed by fans. The release date for the album was 8 September 2008. Q magazine
reviewed the album by saying, "Their first album in 18 years still finds the frontman in fine voice; Robert continues to sound like he dresses only in velvet and smokes cigarillos".
In June 2009, the band released a special edition double digipack CD and DVD of their performance at the 100 Club
in London. It featured the original band performing fifteen songs including: "Digging Your Scene", "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way" and "Wait"; as well as other tracks from the band's earlier work along with a few new songs from Devil's Tavern.
In January 2011 the band released Staring at the Sea, with "Steppin' Down" as the first single issued.
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 that formed in 1981 as a new wave-oriented act. The first single, "Live Today Love Tomorrow" was released in 1982. They subsequently recorded more commercial pop rock hit makers, and finally became a dance group, shortly before splitting up at the beginning of the 1990s. They broke through with the UK and US Top 40 hit "Digging Your Scene", which hit #14 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in August, 1986. They went on to place eleven singles and four albums in the UK charts between 1986 and 1990.
In late 2007, the original band members reunited, releasing a new album and going on tour in 2008.
Career
Fronted by lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano player Dr. Robert (born Bruce Robert Howard, 2 May 1961, NorfolkNorfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England) the group formed in 1981, upon Howard's return to the United Kingdom, after spending his teen years in Australia. The other members are Mick Anker on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Neville Henry on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, and Tony Kiley on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
.
In 1984, they released their debut album, Limping for a Generation
Limping for a Generation
Limping for a Generation was the 1984 debut album by the British band, The Blow Monkeys.In the booklet to 1999 Atomic Lullabies - Very Best of The Blow Monkeys, the leader Dr. Robert writes down that, even if it was "Digging Your Scene", from the band's second album, Animal Magic, "that opened the...
, characterized by a dark mood, and a mix of pop rock and new wave, but their first hit came two years later, in 1986, with "Digging Your Scene", from their second album, Animal Magic (which reached number 21 in the UK Albums Chart
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...
). The single attracted attention for the topical lyrics, dealing with the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
-fuelled backlash against gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
people. It peaked at number 14 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 7 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. In addition, it reached a high of number 12 in the UK Singles Chart, number 24 in Italy and number 25 in Germany.
In January 1987, She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter, the band's third album was released; it reached number 20 in the UK, thanks to its biggest hit, "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way", which reached number 5 in the UK (and number 28 in Italy), although it never charted in the United States. However, it did feature in the film, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol is the fourth comedy film in the Police Academy series. It was released in 1987.A group of Police Academy graduates are sent to train a group of newly recruited civilian officers. The original Police Academy cast reprise their roles in the film. Capt. Harris,...
.
Another noteworthy track, "You Don't Own Me" was used on the platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
selling Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing (soundtrack)
Dirty Dancing is the original soundtrack of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The album became a huge commercial success in the USA. It spent 18 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales charts and went multi-platinum. It spawned a follow-up album entitled More Dirty Dancing . Executive Produced by...
soundtrack.
Outside of the group (though actually included on their fourth album, Whoops! There Goes the Neighbourhood), a successful single release by Robert Howard was "Wait", that featured early Chicago House
Chicago house
Chicago house is a style of house music, a genre of electronic dance music which emerged in Chicago in the mid-1980s. Stylistically, Chicago house has no widely accepted definition, but generally includes the first house music productions by Chicago-based artists throughout the 1980s, and any later...
diva
Diva
A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of diva is closely related to that of "prima donna"....
, Kym Mazelle
Kym Mazelle
Kym Mazelle is an American dance-pop, Hi-NRG, soul, and house singer. She was brought up and lived on the same street as the Jackson family and knew Michael Jackson's mother and uncle.-Career:...
, on female lead vocals. The record was an early British recording in the subgenre dubbed UK garage
UK garage
UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the early-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York, United States. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling'...
. The track reached number 7 in the UK chart. It would later re-appear on the Blow Monkeys' first greatest hits album, Choices - The Singles Collection, their highest-charting record, reaching Number 5 in the UK Albums Chart in 1989.
The band split up in late 1990, shortly after the release of their fifth album, Springtime for the World (an EP of the same name also came out, collecting all three singles from the album). After briefly recording with Dee C. Lee
Dee C. Lee
Dee C. Lee is an English pop singer.-Career:Lee was a backing vocalist for the pop group Wham! in the early 1980s, but she left the group to work as a solo artist and also to join Paul Weller's band, The Style Council...
, as Slam Slam, Dr. Robert went solo. He contributed to Paul Weller's solo debut album, and co-wrote material with both Weller and Lee. Another notable collaborator was Beth Orton
Beth Orton
Beth Orton is a BRIT Award–winning English singer-songwriter, known for her 'folktronica' sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers in the mid 1990s. However, these were not Orton's first...
.
On 18 November 2007, the original band members announced the reunion of the Blow Monkeys, as well as a new album Devil's Tavern and a tour in 2008. The album was funded by the pre-orders placed by fans. The release date for the album was 8 September 2008. Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
reviewed the album by saying, "Their first album in 18 years still finds the frontman in fine voice; Robert continues to sound like he dresses only in velvet and smokes cigarillos".
In June 2009, the band released a special edition double digipack CD and DVD of their performance at the 100 Club
100 Club
The 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1, originally called The Feldman Swing Club.The 100 Club attained legendary status in modern British music, having played host to live music since 24 October 1942....
in London. It featured the original band performing fifteen songs including: "Digging Your Scene", "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way" and "Wait"; as well as other tracks from the band's earlier work along with a few new songs from Devil's Tavern.
In January 2011 the band released Staring at the Sea, with "Steppin' Down" as the first single issued.
Singles
- "Live Today Love Tomorrow" (1982)
- "Go Public" (1984)
- "Man from Russia" (1984)
- "Atomic Lullaby" (1984)
- "Wildflower" (1985)
- "Forbidden Fruit" (1985)
- "Digging Your Scene" (1986) (UK Singles ChartUK Singles ChartThe 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 ...
: #12; US Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
: #14; US Hot Dance Club Play: #7; Germany: #25; Italy: #37; Netherlands: #37) - "Wicked Ways" (1986) (UK Singles Chart: #60)
- "Don't Be Scared of Me" (1986)
- "It Doesn't Have to Be This WayIt Doesn't Have to Be This Way"It Doesn't Have to Be this Way" is a single released by English New Wave band The Blow Monkeys in early 1987. It is probably the band's best known single, and hit the top 5 on the UK charts.-Chart performance:...
" (1987) (UK Singles Chart: #5; Italy: #44; Netherlands: #29) - "Out with Her" (1987) (UK Singles Chart: #30)
- "(Celebrate) The Day After You" with Curtis MayfieldCurtis MayfieldCurtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
(1987) (UK Singles Chart: #52) - "Some Kind of Wonderful" (1987) (UK Singles Chart: #67)
- "This Is Your Life" (1988) (UK Singles Chart: #70)
- "It Pays to Belong" (1988)
- "Wait" (1989) Robert Howard and Kym MazelleKym MazelleKym Mazelle is an American dance-pop, Hi-NRG, soul, and house singer. She was brought up and lived on the same street as the Jackson family and knew Michael Jackson's mother and uncle.-Career:...
(UK Singles Chart: #7) - "This Is Your Life" (remixRemixA remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
) (1989) (UK Singles Chart: #32) - "Choice?" featuring Sylvia TellaSylvia TellaSylvia Tella is a British lovers rock singer, who after working as a vocalist for Boney M embarked on a successful solo career, releasing her first album in 1981. She had a top 40 hit in 1989 in collaboration with the Blow Monkeys.-Biography:Born c.1960 in Manchester, England, Tella's career began...
(1989) (UK Singles Chart: #22) - "Slaves No More" featuring Sylvia Tella (1989) (UK Singles Chart: #73)
- "Springtime for the World" (1990) (UK Singles Chart: #69)
- "La Passionara" [Remix] (1990)
- "If You Love Somebody" (remix) (1990)
- "The Bullet Train (2008)
- "Steppin' Down" (2011)
Albums
- Limping for a GenerationLimping for a GenerationLimping for a Generation was the 1984 debut album by the British band, The Blow Monkeys.In the booklet to 1999 Atomic Lullabies - Very Best of The Blow Monkeys, the leader Dr. Robert writes down that, even if it was "Digging Your Scene", from the band's second album, Animal Magic, "that opened the...
(1984) - Animal Magic (1986) (UK Albums ChartUK Albums ChartThe 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...
: #21; US Albums ChartBillboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
: #35) - She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter (1987) (UK Albums Chart: #20 / US Albums Chart: #134)
- Whoops! There Goes the Neighbourhood (1989) (UK Albums Chart: #46)
- Springtime for the World (1990)
- Devil's Tavern (2008)
- Travelin' Souls - Live! at the Legendary 100 Club (limited edition CD & DVD) (2009)
- Staring at the Sea (2011)
Compilation albums
- Choices - The Singles Collection (1989) (UK Albums Chart: #5)
- Blow Monkeys The MastersBlow Monkeys the MastersBlow Monkeys The Masters is a compilation from British new wave / Dance band The Blow Monkeys, released in 1997, by Eagle label, for its well known "Eagle Series", presenting many UK groups' master collections...
(1997) - Atomic Lullabies - Very Best of The Blow Monkeys (2 CDs, 1999)
- Rare & Unreleased (2000, Japan only)
- Digging Your Scene: The Best of The Blow MonkeysDigging Your Scene: The Best of The Blow MonkeysDigging Your Scene: The Best of The Blow Monkeys is a double greatest hits album, released on 4 February 2008 by British pop rock / new wave / funky / Dance band The Blow Monkeys. Led by singer, guitarist, piano and keyboard player Dr. Robert, the group formed in the early eighties and disbanded in...
(2 CDs, 2008)
Other appearances
- Dirty DancingDirty Dancing (soundtrack)Dirty Dancing is the original soundtrack of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The album became a huge commercial success in the USA. It spent 18 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales charts and went multi-platinum. It spawned a follow-up album entitled More Dirty Dancing . Executive Produced by...
- "You Don't Own Me" - The Last Temptation of Elvis - "Follow That Dream"
Dr. Robert solo albums
- Realms Of Gold
- Bethesda
- Other Folk
- Flatlands (1999)
- Birds Gotta Fly
- Keep On Digging for The Gold
- Live in Tokyo
- Five In The Afternoon (with P. P. ArnoldP. P. ArnoldP. P. Arnold is an American-born soul singer who enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and beyond.-Early life:...
) - The Coming of Grace : An Introduction to Dr Robert (compilation albumCompilation albumA 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...
) (2009)