Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Sexually Ambiguous 80s Music Scene: Scritti Politti



Scritti Politti, the post-punk / New Wave band from the UK, peaked in popularity with their 1985 release, Cupid & Psyche 85. The single "Perfect Way" got airplay in the US and UK, and the video was in regular rotation on MTV. The band's name is a bastardization of "political writing" in Italian.

Frontman, Green Gartside embodied the 80s push towards post-modernism. Gartside sang in falsetto over synth beats and keyboards, grew out floppy hair, wore manicured clothing, and name dropped Jacques Derrida (of course I had no idea who that was back then) in one of his songs. The end results made his lyrics, which sound like he is singing about girls, also sort of not sounds like it.

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