The Marcel Duchamp of Electropop

John Foxx : Underpass

[Purchase]

On January 18, 1980 ex-Ultravox singer/lyricist John Foxx released his debut solo album Metamatic. Infused with synthesizers at the height of Gary Numan's popularity, the album reached #18 in the UK album charts and featured two UK singles, the UK#31 "Underpass" and UK #32 "No One Driving".

Anyone who had listened to Ultravox's last album, 1978's synth-laden Systems of Romance, could hear an exciting new direction for music. Produced by Kraftwerk's Conny Plank at his studio near Koln, the album was full of atmosphere and alienation. In his book looking at the postpunk scene from 1978 to 1984, Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds suggests Numan was listening and taking notes ( and I see from my own post on Systems that I made the same suggestion).

For Metamatic, Foxx not only abandoned his band, but guitars and drums. The only human sounds came from Foxx's vocals and from Jake Durant on the occasional bass track. Of the sessions, Foxx writes on his website:

I was in retreat from bands, touring, etc. mightily convinced that electronics were the future, and reading too much J.G. Ballard. I lived alone in Finsbury Park, spent my spare time walking the disused train lines, cycled to the studio every day and wobbled back at dawn, imagining I was the Marcel Duchamp of electropop. Metamatic was the result. It was the first British electronic pop album. It was minimal, primitive technopunk. Carcrash music tailored by Burtons.

40 Year Itch : Bowie Does the Midnight Special

By late 1973 David Bowie was one of the biggest rock and roll stars in the UK. In America, not so much. Ziggy Stardust had only peaked at #75 in the Billboard charts. "The Jean Genie" stalled at #71 on the Hot 100 charts. For Bowie, NBC's "Midnight Special" was seen as the best opportunity for a big breakthrough in the U-S.  That meant resurrecting his retired Ziggy Stardust persona for one last wham bam thank you ma'am.

     The result: The 1980 Floor Show featuring one new song, "1984/Dodo", a collection of poorly designed sets, and a bizarre performance from Marianne Faithful in a see-through nun outfit. If the show below doesn't meet your expectations, be thankful you weren't in the studio audience. Writer David Thompson says "It was really disappointing, with him doing the same three songs 40 times."