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AND WHAT WAS THE STORY BEHIND IT ?
I ask because I still need a few more good tales to put into my upcoming book 'Is That The Twelve Inch Mix', which is not only about the 12" single but about those of us obsessed with 80s music. Should be out late this year or early 2010.
I have some cracking contributions, including some from 80s stars themselves - will acknowledge anyone whose stories I use.
Blue Monday has already been done by the way !
lets have your thoughts !
rob grillo
Blue Monday. On the day of my 10th birthday from 'The Other Record Shop' on Cockburn Street in Edinburgh. I'd just been taken to the Edinburgh Dungeon's waxwork museum as a treat and then to get 'that record' that the big boys in the summer playscheme I attended had been blaring out their ghetto blasters all summer long. Knew nowt about New Order. Just knew 'that song'.
After that it was back through to Glasgow for dinner at the Buck Rogers Burger Station on Queen Street where I got my picture taken with a dwarf dressed as 'Tweakie'.
"Beedi beedi beedi beedi'.
Dunno, but I distinctly remember buying this 12" ...
Because when you cut the sleeve up it folded out back and front to form this image, which I had pinned on my bedroom wall. 
'Take On All The World' by Judas Priest.
Bow wow wow were a brilliant band,I saw them a few times and I think I put down Mat Ashman as my favourit guitarist on another thread.
isaac wrote: Mat Ashman as my favourit guitarist on another thread.
He's dead now. Diabetes. :(
El Jarvo wrote:
isaac wrote: Mat Ashman as my favourit guitarist on another thread.
He's dead now. Diabetes. :(
I think I saw one of his last gigs with that guy from Flesh For Lulu. I also met him when he came to Bedford with chiefs of relief,had a few choice tales about a certain female lead singer,happy days.
Cool topic...
The first 12-inch single I ever bought was "Everything Counts (in Larger Amounts)" by Depeche Mode. I'd caught the video just once (on MTV's 120 Minutes, I believe) and went looking for the record the next day. And lo and behold, there in the bin at National Record Mart was something called a "12-inch single"* with...get this...an extended version. Wha?
I'd already been "demixing" songs in my head (most notably Devo's New Traditionalists album), picking out individual synth tracks and following them through the songs, but here someone had gotten a hold of the separate tracks and, um, re-mixed them, stretching out the song to twice its original length. The thought that a song wasn't necessarily "finished" once it had appeared on an album blew my fragile young mind and sent me scurrying for more.
My favorite 12-inches were from Big Country; I can't imagine the work that went into cutting apart and reassembling Mark Brzezicki's phenomenally complex drum parts without ProTools.
*I'm guessing the 12-inch non-remixed, non-extended single was more of a British format, no?
The record shops were shit in my home town, we only had a Woolies and a Boots so I used to go into Leeds to buy records. I think my first 12" inch single was Vienna and I bought Closer at the same time and a John Foxx single, possibly Munich after the rain but I cant quite recall.
I remember me and me mates buying disco 12" records around 77-78 and finding out when we played them that the run off grooves took up as much of the record as the playing grooves.What a rip-off.
I still picture the lable but can't remember the name,bollocks!
I had to ring my sister to check on this as her memory is amazing. Apparently we were arguing in the local record shop which of the following two 12" singles to buy. We couldn't agree, so bought both...
and
That night we went to our local divey nightclub (underage) and insisted the DJ play them both loads of times 
FGTH: Two Tribes Anihilation.
If you're gonna get into 12"s you may as well start with the master that is Trevor Horn.
Mine was Never Let Me Down Again by DM:
It was 1989 and me sisters (who initiated me in music) rented the Bright Lights, Big City VHS and it featured Pleasure Little Treasure (and also an unique edit the Pettibone mix for TF, although I didn't knew that at the time).
I had no idea of what a B-side was -- there weren't singles in Brazil back then -- and I had got the 101 LP already and was dying to hear the studio version, so I convinced a friend to take me to the only import record store in the city, where I happened to pay an outrageous amount of cash for a record for the first time in my life (my father almost killed me 'cause it only had 5 tracks lol!). I was 14.
The first 12" I can recall buying was AEIOU Sometimes Y by EBN OZN. MTV would play the video, and the song was only available in 12" format, not 7", with the album release was still months away.
That was an important day for me in 1983. I liked new wave, but seeing Depeche Mode's Everything Counts back to back with the EBN OZN track really opened my eyes to synthesizers and set the tone for my musical taste right up to present day.
Sometime in '83 I would have started collecting 12"s by Duran Duran, starting with Is There Something I Should Know.
I used to ride my bike to the local record store to hang out, and the next 12" that made any sort of impression on me was hearing The Perfect Kiss in April '85. That started my love affair with New Order.
Shortly thereafter I was buying 12" singles by Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Erasure, New Order, etc....essentially, Factory and Mute as imports and Sire and Wax Trax in the US.
Gnu Odor wrote: I'd already been "demixing" songs in my head (most notably Devo's New Traditionalists album), picking out individual synth tracks and following them through the songs, but here someone had gotten a hold of the separate tracks and, um, re-mixed them, stretching out the song to twice its original length. The thought that a song wasn't necessarily "finished" once it had appeared on an album blew my fragile young mind and sent me scurrying for more.
That album was a real turning point for me, as well.
Yeah 1st 12" single is actually bought on cassette.It was FRANKIE Two Tribes (featuring War)and an interview with the ..err..straight lads. "My Name's Maaark and I wear keks that make me look like I've got a big packet"
But I didn't buy a record player till 1989,and 1st proper 12" I bought was......FINE TIME!!!!
I think mine was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - White Lines, or Step Off.. can't remember.
If not, it was Relax by Frankie. I was only twelve, didnt know what a 12 inch was. By 13, I had become fully aware, one magical night alone. 
The Clash - "Staight to Hell"/ "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
I didn't really even know about 12" singles. I saw that import 12" and I thought it was cool and different. I already had both songs on the LP Combat Rock.
I think I already owned a couple of those records without a cover (only die-cut) which I got from others, but my first one must have been Rose Royce - R.R. Express. It came out around september 1981 and I (14) heard the track every week on the Soul Show (presented by Ferry Maat, which was on thursday evening every week, he faced the actual record to give it special effect!). I bought it together with a cousin in a warehouse at the time. The actual record was/is 12 minutes long ... the single version is only about 4 minutes, so it was pretty cool to have my first 12 inch record for the money I had to spend on it.
Honestly cant remember,i bought that many 12" singles as well,the first 7" single i ever bought was Human Leagues 'Dont You Want Me' though,cos i liked the video for it.
nice one Al......along similar lines mine was Heart of Glass by Blondie, no pic sleeve but a nice pic of Debbie Harry on the label. I don't know anybody who wasn't captivated by her
I married into a rather nice record collection, and the missus recalls being given the 12" single of Falco's "Der Kommisar" by her boyfriend at the time. She's got a bunch of awesome singles: lots of Bowie. (And Flock of Seagulls! 
)
How much did those things cost at the time? At the height of my record-buying career, I remember most new albums were $5.99 (with a few high-dollar premium ones going for $6.99). I think 12-inchers were $3.99. More expensive per track, but oh so much cooler. So sophisticated... so European.
El Jarvo wrote: Dunno, but I distinctly remember buying this 12" ...
Because when you cut the sleeve up it folded out back and front to form this image, which I had pinned on my bedroom wall.
wasn't she, like, 14? perv.
Funnily enough, what with this being a New Order forum and all that, it was Blue Monday by New Order. March 1983. Trekked down to the local Woolworths expecting to pick it up and was told they didn't sell it as they didn't stock 12" singles. I rarely visited Woolies after that, it was that sort of uselessness that sent them bankrupt last year. So I had to go to a proper record shop which was rather daunting. It was a magical moment and I hurried home to play it on heavy rotation. Happy times.
Ger Boy wrote: Paul Hardcastle - Nnnnnnnnnnnn Nineteen. Still think its a top tune!! :)
Me too. But was always annoyed that it didnt contain the 7 inch version.
19 by Paul Hardcastle. I was 16 at the time and then, ironically, I was in the first Gulf war at age... you guessed it... 19!!!
Not quite as horrific as Vietnam thou...
EDIT: Just read the post previous to this... 19 seems a popular choice!!!
El Jarvo wrote: Dunno, but I distinctly remember buying this 12" ...
Because when you cut the sleeve up it folded out back and front to form this image, which I had pinned on my bedroom wall.
The 2nd 12" I bought was 'Heartache' Pepsi & Shirlie. Not quite for the music though... Maybe more for the front and rear sleeve piccies.
There's so many double entendres there that I think I'll quietly slope off...
hibster wrote:
El Jarvo wrote: Dunno, but I distinctly remember buying this 12" ...
Because when you cut the sleeve up it folded out back and front to form this image, which I had pinned on my bedroom wall.
wasn't she, like, 14? perv.
Yes, she was. :D
Damn good question - it might have (embarassingly!) been Spitting Images' "The Chicken Song"... Ah well, it had a couple of good b-sides!
Still, the first two CD singles I ever bought were New Order's "Touched By The Hand Of God" and Joy Division's "Atmosphere" - both bought when I hadn't (yet!) got a CD player! :)
12"- Sly & robbie 'lets go all the way'(goes a bit downhill after the intro) i think, bought from my local record shop Dayglo Records!
7" - Adam & the ants 'Ant Rap' from woolworths , sleeve had an adam advent calender on the back !
CD Single - Inspiral Carpets Peel Sessions, from one-up records the coolest record store in the world until it burnt down.
I suppose it's this 12" thing. Simple Minds - Don't you. The story? A young girl falling in love with the singer and the music 
. Happily ever after, I might add :D .
Nick King wrote: Still, the first two CD singles I ever bought were New Order's "Touched By The Hand Of God" and Joy Division's "Atmosphere" - both bought when I hadn't (yet!) got a CD player! :)
My 1st CD single was TBTHOG too 
I remember buying 2 12" singles, from Rainbow Records, Livingston in summer 1983, just prior to my 16th birthday party. I was a bit of a late starter in buying sounds, but the first of those was Blue Monday, then grandmaster flash (white lines). I then developed a severe habit of collecting 12" New order singles.
First CD was bought around 1989, it was the factus 81/82 CDS which i picked up in HMV Edinburgh.
can't remember.SEVERAL come to mind apart from Joy Div/New Order Boy George, Soft Cell and that group with Annie Lennox in.Also some SIMPLE MINDs.
cant really remember, first cd singles were 808 state in yer face and the stone roses elephant stone ( was that the one hooky produced?) first cd album was joy division substance first 7" was either errol dunkley, ok fred or darts, the boy from new york city first album i owned was the jungle book soundtrack the first album i actually went and bought with my own hard scrounged money was the ziggy album by bowie
the last cd i bought was a couple of days ago..... the ziggy album on sacd format life is a wheel
Blue Monday, predictably, September 1983. Felt a right twat having to ask the assistant if it was in fact Blue Monday as there was of course nothing on the sleeve to let you know unless you were already familiar with Fac numbers!! (which i obviously wasn't at that time)
I shoplifted a copy of Blue Monday 88 on CD single from a Wal-mart...
does that make me special???
Jeffari-al-Texani wrote: I shoplifted a copy of Blue Monday 88 on CD single from a Wal-mart...
does that make me special???
I torrented it, so i'm the special one.
Jeffari-al-Texani wrote: I shoplifted a copy of Blue Monday 88 on CD single from a Wal-mart...
does that make me special???
They had a Blue Monday CD single at Wal-mart? You must have dreamt doing that.
Full circle... I hit Record Den yesterday for Record Store Day and found all of the Depeche Mode singles boxes in the cutout bin for $11.99 each. Score!
So 25 years later I'm reliving the thrill of buying "Everything Counts (In Larger Amounts)".
