Art of Noise

Arrived on the scene in 1983 and were an unconventional synth pop band at the time. The band was made up of music producers, programmers and journalist. The band consisted of Gary Langan, J J Jeczalik, Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley and Paul Morley.

The group was noted for it's faceless façade and the use of sampling and digital instruments blended into a sound that was made for the dancefloor. The group came to force on Trevor Horn and Paul Morley independent record label ZTT. Horn had worked on Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Propaganda on ZTT and enjoyed great success but now they decided on a new project with the new purchased Fairlight CMI Sampler which could sample at the touch of a keyboard.

They released an EP in late 1983 'Into battle with the Art of Noise' and this produced the instrumental song 'Beat Box' which was a favourite in America amongst the body popping fraternity. They also at the same time provided the theme tune for the then popular ITV programme The Krypton Factor'.

The debut album followed named 'who's afraid of the art of noise?' and this achieved moderate success but the group were to split when Langan, Jeczalik and Dudley left Morley and Horn and took with them the name and moved labels. There was tension regarding the output of the latter so the trio left all together and went in a different direction.

The trio went to China Records and released a second album 'In visible silence' and it featured the Grammy award winning song 'Peter Gunn' with Duane Eddy, the song was huge in America and reached number 2 in the billboard charts. The video promo also featured the comedian Rik Mayall as a private eye detective. Another hit followed with the classic 'paranoimia' which featured the sampling voice of the computer generated presenter Max Headroom. The whole thing although strange did work and the song was hugely successful and again another dancefloor filler.

By now Langan had left the band leaving just two and they released another album 'In no sense Nonsense'  The album was well received by critics but didn't catch the imagination of the public. They did another collaboration with Tom Jones and did a fantastic cover of Prince song 'Kiss' and became there biggest hit in the UK. Interest in the band stoked up again and a new album followed 'below the waste' but commercially the album failed and by 1990 the Art of Noise had disbanded.

During the 1980s the group had released four studio albums with two top 30 albums and they released 13 singles with 4 top 20 singles with Kiss peaking at number 5 in 1988.

Tears for Fears

Were a new wave synth band that formed in 1981 from the embers of a previous band called Graduate. The band essentially consisted of Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith. They became fascinated with the likes of Talking Heads, Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel and moved away from there Mod roots and looked more at the synth sound that was beginning to take over the music market.

They were signed by Phonogram records in 1981 and released two singles 'Suffer little children' and 'Pale shelter', neither did not dent the charts but the next release was to shoot them straight into the charts and become a overnight success.

They released the single originally to be a B side called 'Mad World'. The song was a huge success and reached number 3 in the UK charts in November 1982. On the back of this they released the much awaited debut album 'The Hurting' to huge critical acclaim.

The album was produced by Chris Hughes who was the ex drummer for Adam and the Ants. The album was described as a Concept album which followed the emotions of distress and Primal scream were mentioned in every song. The album enjoyed a 65 week stay in the UK album chart and enjoyed a number one accolade. The album also included the singles of a reworked 'pale shelter' and 'change'.

They went to work on a new album and a more musical shift which produced 'songs from the big chair' Originally producer Jeremy Green worked on 'Mothers Talk' single but the band unhappy bought back Chris Hughes which hit the top 20 and the Follow up 'Shout' was to go more global than 'Mad World' and peak at number 3 in the UK charts. T

The album 'Songs from the big chair' shifted away from the synth sound of previous work going for a more sophisticated guitar arrangement. The album peaked at number 2 in the UK charts and anchored in the charts for 12 months, it also went number one in the US billboard chart.

On the back of that success, the singles were also producing great achievements with 'everybody wants to rule the world' peaking at number 2 in the UK charts. The song was re-released a year later with a slight amendment to run the world to support Sport Relief campaign and the song again hit the top 5.

On the back of success the band went to America to tour and performed at the MTV video awards where the lads discovered a young lady singing in a Kansas City hotel bar by the name of Oleta Adams, who would in time work later with Tears for Fears. They returned home and won the 1986 BRIT award for best single 'Everybody wants to rule the world' but it would be another three years before the boys released any more material.

The new album was 'seeds of love' again the sound had shifted to a more jazz and bluesy feel with a hint of the Beatles and this well prevalent in the release of 'sowing the seeds of love' which was a huge success in the singles chart. The follow up was a duet with Oleta Adams with the powerful hit 'woman in chains' which again fared well in the charts. The album again reached the top spot and also spawned the hit 'advice for the young at heart'.

Following the success of the album Orzabel and Smith had a huge fallout and Curt Smith left the band and handing the reigns to Roland Orzabel who continued the name until they made up in 2000. During the 1980s the band released 3 studio albums with two number ones and a number two. They also released 17 singles in the UK with seven top 10 singles, although they never enjoyed a number one single in the UK they did enjoy two in America with back to back number ones with Shout and Everybody wants to rule the world.