Cyberpunk outlaws … Post punk drag queens ... Synthpop swingers … Hi-tech new wavers … Aural assaulters … Sci Fi samplers … Ultra-violence practitioners… Marketing hustlers ... Video pioneers … Fashion renegades ... Sex bomb boogiers !
Produced by Giorgio Moroder. On the Soundtrack of a John Hughes film. Sigue Sigue Sputnik were everywhere yet nowhere, in your face, yet hiding in plain sight.
Started in London in 1982 by ex-Gen-Xer Tony James, SSS were (at least) 25 years ahead of their time. Their blend of musical saturation, pop culture references, sexual elasticity, style over substance, relentless self-promotion and multi-media shock & awe was never seen before and has rarely been pulled together so well in such a succinct package since.
Like an out-of control heat-seeking moisture missile, SSS spewed forth a load of 12” singles during their brief hurtle through the pop culture universe. Albums collected them in various forms … remixes, singles, dance versions, dubs, edits, extended mixes - almost every release had multiple variants. Fake advertisements were slotted between songs, a la RoboCop 5 years later. Dystopian sci-fi movies like A Clockwork Orange, Mad Max & Blade Runner were sampled relentlessly. Videos featuring the band and their over-the-top look were slick and entertaining. Neither BPM - nor hair - could ever be too high.
Their biggest hit “Love Missile F1-11” was produced by the golden hand of Giorgio Moroder in 1986, and an extended mix of it was used in the shower scene of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It charted in various countries and even made #1 in Spain. The video of 'Love Missile' is a mini-movie unto itself, with SSS strutting about like a mega-rich, hyper-sexualized version of Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers, well-armed with weapons … and hairspray.
SSS were a band that proved right the Blade Runner line that "the candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long." And for a brief period in the mid 80s … SSS burned oh so brightly.
-WAS
They sound like someone else...but I can't put my finger on who it is. Definite dancefloor material.
ReplyDeleteA bit later in time, Pop Will Eat Itself tried the same schtick ... you may remember "Wise Up Sucker" or "Def Con One" .. songs where PWEI introduced the bullhorn as an instrument. Funny enough, they actually covered this song... they were also completely shameless in their sampling of sci-fi movies too.
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