In the week of March 8, 1981 Lene Lovich's "New Toy" entered the UK charts at #72. The song, written by Thomas Dolby about his new Fairlight CMI synthesize, would peak at UK#53. A defining song in the new wave playbook, I thought it would have been a bigger hit, but David Hepworth apparently had reservations about the song in his Smash Hits review.
Visage : Mind of a Toy
Visage entered the UK charts this same week at #32 with their follow-up to the Top 10 hit "Fade To Grey". "Mind Of A Toy" peaked at UK#13, with a great deal of help from the visionary Godley& Creme, whose music video aired on Top of The Pops on March 19th. Keep in mind, we are still five months away from the launch of MTV.
On November 10, 1980 Visage released the UK#8 single "Fade To Grey", one the 80's ultimate synth pop hits. The band's debut album came out the same day. How could anyone watching the Godley and Creme directed video not believe they were witnessing the future, when men wore makeup and beautiful French women crouched suggestively? Everything that was great about 80's pop is right here, just a matter of month into the new decade.
Who is Visage? It's a who's who of UK pop. There's vocalist Steve Strange who may have first attracted attention as an extra in David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" video. There's Ultravox's Midge Ure on guitar and syths and violinist Billy Curie . From Magazine, there's guitarist John McGeoch and from Rich Kids there's drummer Rusty Egan.
Midge Ure would say in 1983 there was no way the band would get back together to record a second album.
The trouble with Visage was that there were too many chiefs, six characters all wanting an equal say without putting in an equal amount of work. I was doing most of the writing and producing, and we all knew Steve [Strange] was the frontman, but when it became successful, jealousy and the nasty side of the business crept in. That was never the way it was intended.
But for one album and its exceptional single Visage captured the essence of the decade. A crossroads: one way leading to the synth pop of Human League and Heaven 17; the other way leading to the New Romantic music of Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran.
The last thing any earnest punk band wants to be called is a super group, but that's exactly what The Rich Kids were referred as by the U.K. press. Expectations were sky high. Was the name prophetic? Um...no.
Formed by ex Sex Pistols Glen Matlock, that band's best songsmith, The Rich Kids had ex Slik Midge Ure on vocals and guitar, 17 year old Steve New as lead guitarist and Rusty Egan on drums. The band broke up before year's end after releasing a Mick Ronson produced punk classic most Americans have never heard, the album Ghosts of Princes in Towers. Ure and Egan would form Visage of "Fade to Grey" fame.
