Posts should include in-depth questions and analytical opinions. New topics must aim to start a discussion. Trivial and uninteresting threads may be deleted. Try to engage in intriguing conversation. A comment should always further the discussion in some way, whether it be through adding onto the original post, contributing new information, offering an opposing viewpoint, etc. Back up your opinions with details and examples. All top level comments must be longer than simply a sentence or two, barring questions and some exceptions. Billy Currie’s album, Doppel, is out now.Comments must meet a general standard of quality determined by the moderators. We were denied the top spot by the novelty hit Shaddap You Face. It went straight from the chorus to the violin solo. I was surprised it was a hit because it was long – when we went on Top of the Pops, we had to cut it. I was proud of it and couldn’t bear the thought of it being passed over. Others seemed just as likely to chart, such as Mr X.īut I wanted to release it. But when we heard the final mix, we didn’t think we had a hit. This was the start of a new decade and people were receptive – though, obviously, there were a few punks shouting at us. The crowd thought we were on to something new. And Conny Plank, our producer, replied: “Well, sing that then.”Įven though there was no middle section at that point, we performed it at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. Midge felt a little uncomfortable, because he’d only just joined and thought we were being arty-farty. ![]() That was why I did a violin solo that was overly vibrato and romantic. He’d tried too hard to be successful and deliberately overdid it. We’d been listening to music by this old German composer called Max Reger. We were denied the No 1 spot by the novelty hit Shaddup You Face Billy Currie Midge stood at the mic and came up with the lyrics almost straightaway: “Walked in the cold air, freezing breath on the window pane …” We were extremely arrogant back then and probably too prog-rocky. I said to the guys I was keen to do something that sounded like the late-19th-century romantics, like Grieg and Elgar. Ultravox had just hooked up with Midge Ure, who’d replaced John Foxx, and I wanted to use my classical training. Everyone wanted us to write a track called Berlin or Paris. ![]() Then, the moment it became huge, the pressure on us to surpass it with a follow-up was incredible. It was too slow, too long and there was a violin solo – the antithesis of a commercial single. It was about £300, which was a substantial amount of money for someone who normally only bought stuff from Save the Children. The only thing that cost money was the Burberry raincoat, because I’d always wanted one. Everything I wore in the video was from thrift shops. Then you go back to your cold, grey, miserable life in Chiswick. In such a crumbling environment, you could easily fall in love. Why Vienna? There was a decaying elegance about it. You’ve gone to this beautiful place, met someone and vowed it is going to continue – and, of course, it doesn’t. Vienna was a love song to an imaginary girl. Everything I wore in the video was from thrift shops Midge UreĪ lot of what Ultravox did back in the day was soundbites. I remember going into the studio with just a line in my head: “The feeling is gone, this means nothing to me – oh Vienna!” That was all I had. The cinematic aspect was high on our agenda: every track was for a movie that didn’t exist. The song had the feel of a haunting mid-European classic, thanks to our keyboard player Billy Currie’s classical training.
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