London Triad, 1987: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, The The, Fuzzbox

Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Flaunt It

I knew I wanted this album the minute I read about it. A band that was creating a stir from hype alone, having released no music whatsoever, but selling out concert venues. That, to me, was the ultimate fun. They had T-shirts and slogans, but no album until the eventual release of Flaunt It, its cover emblazoned with Japanese text and imagery. The band had even sold advertising space in between the album tracks. I had to have it. This was the first album that I ever had in all three of the existing formats: LP, cassette, and CD. I was looking for any extra Sputnik I could, whether it be more music or just more graphics, to allow me to stay in the high-tech future world of Sputnik.

They were billed as “the fifth generation of Rock and Roll”, and their music carried on the message—full of pulsing synths, tape explosions, feedback loops, and references to A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner, with lyrics about missiles, sex, and Atari. There was more than a passing nod to the rock icons of the 50s, both in the rockabilly-style guitar and lead singer Martin Degville’s moniker, “Elvis 1990.” Degville’s voice wasn’t good by any means, a fact that became abundantly clear on his eventual solo album, but it had the glam hysteria needed for the purpose at hand (and was artfully disguised on Flaunt It). In 1986, this was just what the doctor ordered: swaggering bravado mixed with shocking costumery and science fiction. I painted the lyrics to “21st Century Boy” on an old dress shirt and wore them with pride.

There was no way that the music was going to live up to the tremendous claims the band made, but it didn’t have to. The medium was the message, and the message was fabulous.

Click to read about. . .

Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Flaunt It
The The, Infected
We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It, Bostin’ Steve Austin

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