Beatnik (The Buggles song)
| "Beatnik" | ||||
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| Single by The Buggles | ||||
| from the album Adventures in Modern Recording | ||||
| B-side | "Fade Away" | |||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Genre | New wave, synthpop | |||
| Length | 3:36 | |||
| Label | Carrere | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Trevor Horn | |||
| Producer(s) | Trevor Horn, John Sinclair | |||
| The Buggles singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio sample | ||||
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A sample of the song's chorus
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"Beatnik" is a synthpop song by the British synthpop group The Buggles released in 1982 as the album's fifth single from their second and final album Adventures in Modern Recording. It was to be both the final single from the album as well as the final single from the group as a whole. The song was written by Trevor Horn and was produced by Horn and John Sinclair.
"Beatnik" is a progressive rock-influenced song that is 3 minutes and 36 seconds long, and is played at a BPM of 104. Horn has stated that "Things like 'Beatnik' were me just messing around with gear and just having a silly idea. I was quite fascinated by Fairlight brass and all of those kind of things that Geoffrey and I had started messing around with before he went off to join Asia."
With limited involvement by Buggles member Geoff Downes, the Adventures in Modern Recording album featured much more involvement from Horn. However, Downes contributed to four songs on the album; "Beatnik", "Vermillion Sands", "I Am a Camera" and "Lenny". On "Beatnik", Downes played the Fairlight keyboard. Other instrumentation includes vocals, guitars, percussion and additional keyboards by Anne Dudley.
The single was not released in the UK, but in France only. It was issued on 7" vinyl via Carrere. The single included the B-side "Fade Away" which was written by Horn and Sinclair, whilst being produced solely by Horn. The song was originally released as the B-side to the 1981 single "I Am a Camera" before it appeared on the "Beatnik" single. It would later appear as a bonus track on the 1997 Japanese re-issue of the Adventures in Modern Recording album, and the February 2010 Salvo/ZZT re-issue of the album in the UK. The co-writer Sinclair was the producer of most tracks on the album, alongside Horn.
The single featured artwork, using a photograph of Horn with his hand on a keyboard, whilst some mannequins stand behind with part of a drum kit and a guitar.
Unlike "I Am a Camera", "On TV" and "Lenny", the album's other singles, the song would not be re-released on iTunes as an EP in 2012 by Trevor Horn's own ZTT label.
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