Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to “Disappointed” by Electronic
The Supergroup is an interesting phenomenon. Some genres lend themselves well to these unions, and some not so much.
Rock fans had a bunch to choose from; Bad Company, CSNY, the Traveling Wilburys, and more.
Grunge/Seattle scene? You bet: Mad Season, Temple of The Dog, and that doesn’t even count Pearl Jam coming together out of the ashes of several other bands.
What about New Wave/Alternative? That list is smaller, but in the early 90s members of New Order, Pet Shop Boys and The Smiths came together. And for a short, brilliant time Electronic was a thing.
The genesis for Electronic came when Bernard Sumner found himself frustrated that his New Order bandmates didn’t want to further venture into a synth-driven sound. But he also found he didn’t like to work alone and reached out to johnny Marr to collaborate. Neil Tennant came on a short time later.
Their first single “Getting Away With It” came out in 1989 and saw decent success/airplay, selling around 250k copies.
After recording a full album and touring in support of Depeche Mode, the band came back together and recorded “Disappointed,” which ultimately went on to become their highest-selling single.
It was also featured on the soundtrack for “Cool World,” a live-action/animation feature (another early 90s phenomenon) alongside artists like David Bowie, Moby, and Brian Eno.
Having seen this in the theater, trust me when I tell you the soundtrack is a much better use of your time than the film is.
Listen:
“Disappointed” by Electronic | Songs from the Cool World, 1992
Click the record to listen on your platform of choice:
Do you remember hearing this when it first came out? What’d you think of it?
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
P.S. Lively up your inbox! Every day The Sample forwards you a newsletter to discover. The more you use it, the better it gets at delivering what you want.
I was on these guys from Day One, in '89, with their "Getting Away With It"! Not unusual, I suppose, but I was 34 at the time, and not, I'm guessing, in their target audience!
But, having loved fellow '80s synth-poppers ABC, Spandau Ballet, and my absolute faves, Scritti Politti, I found Electronic's sense of melody and adherence to the craft of classic pop songwriting worthy of a full dive---including buying the multiple extended-play, multi-mix CDs that came out for both of these songs, anyway! I even sang both songs at karaoke frequently as recently as 4-5 years ago!🎶😁
Curiously, I was never into any of the bands their members left, save for the Pet Shop Boys, again due to their more consistent melodic sense than I was hearing in other '80s "droners" as I call them, like The Smiths and New Order, and the Grandaddy of them all, Depress Mode (not that they had anything to do with Electronic...just a point of reference)!
I'd like to think that Sumner and Marr, anyway, left their respective bands solely to focus more on songs more melodic. Then, enter Tennant, and voila...mega tuneage!
Anyway, serendipity being what it is, about a week ago, I had thought about "Getting Away With It," and even started an "Audio Autopsy" article about it, so it's in my queue, at its barest! You beat me to Electronic, Kevin, and good on ya, but if I actually complete my piece, needless to say, I'll happily link to your "Disappointed" article! In fact, you may even get me off my duff to actually write it!😎👍Cheers!
Good stuff as usual, Kevin!