ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #091

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#091: Silicon Teens – ‘Memphis Tennessee’ (Mute Records ’79)

Dear friends,

back to 1979 we go – that golden year – and I have Silicon Teens for you today: Darryl, Jacki, Paul and Diane, a brainchild of producer Larry Least. They certainly were ahead of their time both in concept and sound, but unfortunately they only released one longplayer, ‘Music for Parties’, an album which consisted of re-imagined rock n roll classics like ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘You Really Got Me’, amongst others. Following the release, musical differences drove the band apart, but their profile was raised when John Hughes used the track ‘Red River Rock’ prominently in his film ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’. Said album is from 1980 and was released by the independent record label Mute, Daniel Miller‘s successful company which he launched with his own single under the moniker The Normal.

So that’s how the Silicon Teens’ story goes – but the true story was a little bit different: in fact you could well argue that The Silicon Teens were the world’s first manufactured electronic pop band, some 20 years before Gorillaz!

In reality, the whole band was just Mute Records’ Daniel Miller on his own, he did all the music plus all the singing. The Teens’ members – Paul (percussion), Diane (synthesizer), Jacki (synthesizer) and Daryl (vocals) – were purely fictional, so was their backstory for the press release: „they’re all teenagers and childhood friends in Liverpool. Inspired by the punk movement and subsequent post-punk bands like The Normal and Throbbing Gristle, they used a synthesizer owned by Jacki’s older brother Kevin to create their songs.“.

Miller carried things really far, it must be said: the band was portrayed by actors in interviews, press photos, and in the music video for their first single. Musician Frank Tovey, aka Fad Gadget, portrayed Darryl, whereas Miller himself portrayed Paul. „Larry Least, producer“, was also Miller – his take on Mickie Most, a very well-known UK producer at the time.

The whole swindle was uncovered by the music press only a year or so later, but until this happened, records were made: three singles, all not too successful, plus one album, which, to be frank, is quite hard to listen to in its entirety, especially these days.

So, why does the band feature here, then? Well, the first single is simply outstanding – I love it without any limits – and so should you:

mp3:  Silicon Teens – Memphis Tennessee

The definitive reading of the old Cuck Berry favourite, this, you will doubtlessly agree. If you don’t, I suspect you should seek medical help at your earliest convenience!

Enjoy,

Dirk