Mute Records: The Historical and Artistic Contexts of Britain’s Key Independent Record Label

265 Pages·2019·22.59 MB·English

by  Zuleika Beaven, Marcus O’Dair, Richard Osborne

Mute Records
ii
Mute Records
Artists, Business, History
Edited by Zuleika Beaven, Marcus O’Dair
and Richard Osborne
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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First published in the United States of America 2019
Copyright © Zuleika Beaven, Marcus O’Dair, Richard Osborne and Contributors, 2019
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. viii–x constitute an extension of this
copyright page.
Cover design: Adrian Cartwright
Cover image © Adrian Cartwright
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Beaven, Zuleika. | O’Dair, Marcus. | Osborne, Richard, 1967-
Title: Mute Records : artists, business, history / edited by Zuleika Beaven,
Marcus O’Dair and Richard Osborne.
Description: New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018038547 | ISBN 9781501340604 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781501340628 (epdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Mute (Record label) | Electronica (Music)–History and criticism. |
Noise music–History and criticism. | Alternative rockmusic–History and criticism.
Classification: LCC ML3792.M87 M87 2019 | DDC 384–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018038547
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-4060-4
ePDF: 978-1-5013-4062-8
eBook: 978-1-5013-4061-1
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
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Contents
List of Plates and Figures vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of Contributors xi
Introduction: Mute Records Richard Osborne and Zuleika Beaven 1
1 ‘Let’s Make Love Before You Die’: ‘Warm Leatherette’, Boredom and
the Invention of the 1980s S. Alexander Reed 15
2 ‘One Man’s Meat’: Fad Gadget’s Social Commentary and
Post-Punk Giuseppe Zevolli 31
3 Depeche Mode and Soft Cell: Redefining the Synth-Pop
Prologue Leon Clowes 47
4 Fans of Faith and Devotion: Obsession, Nostalgia and Depeche
Mode Andy Pope 59
5 Throbbing Gristle’s Early Records: Post-Hippie/Pre-Punk/
Post-Punk John Encarnacao 71
6 ‘Join That Troubled Chorus’: Nick Cave, the Bad Seeds and the
Blues Ross Cole 87
7 Mark Stewart, ‘Somewhere’ Edward George 101
8 ‘Sometimes, Always’: Erasure, Mute and the Value of
Independence Brenda Kelly 113
9 Outside Mute? Ut, No Wave and Blast First Ieuan Franklin 127
10 The Mash-Up of Aesthetics, Theory and Politics in Laibach’ s
Meta-Sound Aténé Mendelyté 141
11 The Blessed Glow of Labour: Independence, Style and Process
in the Music of Swans Dean Lockwood 155
vi Contents
12 Moby, Minstrelsy and Melville Richard Osborne 169
13 Country Girl: Rural Feminism in the Performance of Alison
Goldfrapp Lucy O’Brien 183
14 Twist: Goldfrapp’s Genre Perversion Glyn Davis 197
15 Arca: Mute’s Mutant Michael Waugh 209
16 Composing in Circuitry: Sonic Artist Dirty
Electronics Lourdes Nicole Crosby Garcí a 223
Index 235
List of Plates and Figures
Plates
Plate 1 Untitled (1996A) from the series Country Girls. Courtesy of
Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp
Plate 2 Untitled (1996B) from the series Country Girls. Courtesy of
Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp
Plate 3 Untitled (1997A) from the series Country Girls. Courtesy of
Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp
Plate 4 Untitled (1997B) from the series Country Girls. Courtesy of
Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp
Plate 5 Untitled (2000) from the series Country Girls. Courtesy of
Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp
Plate 6 Untitled (1999) from the series Country Girls. Courtesy of
Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp
Figures
Figure 1.1 Structure of the title hook in ‘Warm Leatherette’,
S. Alexander Reed 15
Figure 1.2 Google Books incidence graph of the phrase ‘boredom’ 20
Figure 1.3 Sex Pistols, ‘Pretty Vacant’ (Virgin 1977). Designed by
Jamie Reid 23
Figure 2.1 Front sleeve of Fad Gadget, ‘Back to Nature’ (Mute 1979) 32
Figure 2.2 Front sleeve of Fad Gadget, ‘Ricky’s Hand’ (Mute 1980).
Courtesy of Simone Grant 35
Figure 2.3 Back sleeve of Fad Gadget, ‘Ricky’s Hand’ (Mute 1980).
Courtesy of Simone Grant 36
Figure 2.4 Front sleeve of Fad Gadget, Gag (Mute 1994). Photograph
by Anton Corbijn 39
Figure 2.5 Inner sleeve for Frank Tovey, Snakes and Ladders (Mute
1986). Courtesy of Paul White 44
Figure 6.1 Front cover of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ‘Tupelo’ 7”
single (Mute 1985) 95
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Daniel Miller, David McGinnis, Sinead McCloskey and all at Mute;
Zoe Miller at Zopf; Nadia Coppelman at Middlesex University; and Leah Babb-
Rosenfeld at Bloomsbury.
The editors and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to
reproduce the following copyright material in this book:
‘Anglia’ written by M. Fras, D. Knez and I. Novak, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Blind Eyes’ written by F. Tovey and P. Balmer, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Blind Lemon Jefferson’ written by N. Cave, B. Bargeld, B. Adamson and M.
Harvey, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Caravan Girl’ written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy Warner/
Chappell Music Publishing Limited.
‘The Circus’ written by A. Bell and V. Clarke, courtesy SM Publishing (UK) Ltd).
‘Collapsing New People’ written by F. Tovey, D. Simmonds, D. Rogers, N. Cash
and B. Frost, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Cologne Cerrone Houdini’ written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy
Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Limited.
‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’ written by N. Cave, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Faith Healer’ lyrics by M. Stewart, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Fireside Favourite’ written by F. Tovey, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Hideaway’ written by A. Bell and V. Clarke, courtesy SM Publishing (UK) Ltd).
‘Higgs Boson Blues’ written by N. Cave and W. Ellis, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Hypnotized’ written by M. Stewart, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘I Discover Love’ written by F. Tovey, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Ideal World’ written by F. Tovey, B. Frost and N. Cash, courtesy Mute Song
Limited.
Acknowledgements ix
‘Lady Shave’ written by F. Tovey and D. Miller, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Little Bird’, written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy Warner/Chappell
Music Publishing Limited.
‘A Lousy Sum of Nothing’ written by A. Bell and V. Clarke, courtesy SM
Publishing (UK) Ltd.
‘Mammon’ lyrics by M. Stewart, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘One Man’s Meat’ written by F. Tovey, D. Simmonds and J. Sackett, courtesy Mute
Song Limited.
‘Ooh La La’ written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy Warner/Chappell
Music Publishing Limited.
‘Ride a White Horse’ written by A. Goldfrapp, W. Gregory and N. Batt, courtesy
Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Limited / Wixen Music UK Ltd.
‘Stand Up’ written by F. Tovey, D. Rogers and D. Simmonds, courtesy Mute Song
Limited.
‘State of the Nation’ written by F. Tovey, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Stranger’ written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy Warner/Chappell
Music Publishing Limited.
‘Stranger’ written by M. Stewart, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Strict Machine’ written by A. Goldfrapp, W. Gregory and N. Batt, courtesy
Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Limited / Wixen Music UK Ltd.
‘Swallow It’ written by F. Tovey, D. Simmonds and P. Balmer, courtesy Mute Song
Limited.
‘Train’ written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy Warner/Chappell
Music Publishing Limited.
‘Tupelo’ written by N. Cave, M. Harvey and B. Adamson, courtesy Mute Song
Limited.
‘T.V.O.D’ written by D. Miller, courtesy Mute Song Limited.
‘Twist’ written by A. Goldfrapp and W. Gregory, courtesy Warner/Chappell
Music Publishing Limited.