"Forbidden City" is a song by English band

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

, comprising

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English musician. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synth-pop, and ...

and

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

, with guesting co-writer

Karl Bartos Karl Bartos (born 31 May 1952) is a German musician and composer known for his contributions to the electronic band Kraftwerk. Career Karlheinz Bartos was born on 31 May 1952 in Marktschellenberg, Germany, named after his grandfathers Karl a ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

, released as the lead single from their second album '' Raise the Pressure'', and their first new release in almost exactly four years, the last being the stand-alone single " Disappointed".

Composition

The track was one of the fastest to be written and recorded on the album, with most of the music by Marr and the lyrics by Sumner (much like " Get the Message" and " Make It Happen"). It is a guitar pop/rock song with a heavily distorted guitar solo by Marr; lyrically it is about a young man who has an abusive relationship with his father but wants to return home despite this antagonism.

Single

As well as a UK release, "Forbidden City" was also issued in Australia and Germany on Compact Disc, and in the US as a 1-track

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. The commercial releases came with two non-album

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

: "Imitation of Life" (an edited version of which would appear on ''

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'' ten years later) and "A New Religion", which featured Denise Johnson providing backing vocals. All three songs were written with Karl Bartos. The Australian CD omitted "A New Religion" in favour of " Getting Away with It". The song was not a huge hit (#14 on the UK Singles Chart) but did receive substantial radio play in Britain. It remains one of Johnny Marr's favourite Electronic songs,jmarr.com Q&A
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in 2006, with stills from its Tom Merriton-directed video used for the front cover and inside the booklet.

Track listings

UK 7" and MC

# "Forbidden City" # "Imitation of Life"

UK/EU CD

# "Forbidden City" # "Imitation of Life" # "A New Religion"

Australian CD

# "Forbidden City" # "Imitation of Life" # "Getting Away with It"

References

External links

feel every beat (unofficial website)

{{authority control Electronic (band) songs 1996 singles Songs written by Karl Bartos Songs written by Johnny Marr Songs written by Bernard Sumner 1996 songs Parlophone singles