Bow Wow Wow : C-30, C-60, C-90 Go!
In July of 1980, Bow Wow Wow entered the UK charts with the UK#34 'C-30, C-60, C-90 Go!', a song that celebrated the bane of the recording industry, home taping. Written by former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren with members of the band, the single was released on cassette with a blank B side so buyers could presumably follow the instructions of 14 year old singer Annabella Lwin : "Off the radio I get constant flow/Hit it, pause it, record and play/Turn it, rewind and rub it away". Sounds Magazine named it the single of the year.
Home taping had also become the first form of peer to peer file sharing, with friends taping each other's albums. The latest fad, the Sony Walkman, made it practically necessary. McLaren's slogan was "Music for life for free". The UK music industry would respond to such piracy a year later with a campaign built around the slogan "Home taping is killing music—and it's illegal" .
We would be hearing more from Bow Wow Wow in the 1980's. Built around the original Ants, sans Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow's David Barbarossa brought the distinctive Burundi drumming style to his new band. But it was the young dry cleaner employee Annabella who would become a star in the new video-friendly decade.
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