Saint Etienne are an English band from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, formed in 1990. The band consists of

Sarah Cracknell Sarah Cracknell (born 12 April 1967) is an English singer-songwriter and lead singer of the electronic music band Saint Etienne (band), Saint Etienne. Career Cracknell's career started with the Windsor-based indie band The Worried Parachutes in ...

, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They became associated with the UK's indie dance scene in the 1990s, beginning with the release of their debut album '' Foxbase Alpha'' in 1991. Their work has been described as uniting 1990s

club culture Clubbing (also known as club culture, related to raving) is the activity of visiting and gathering socially at nightclubs (discotheques, discos or just clubs) and festivals. That includes socializing, listening to music, dancing, drinking alcohol ...

with 1960s pop and other disparate influences. The name of the band comes from the French football club of

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

History

Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists, who once had a fanzine called ''Caff'' which had developed into a record label by 1989. They originally planned that Saint Etienne would use a variety of different lead singers, and their 1991 debut album, '' Foxbase Alpha'' – influenced by sources such as

, 1960s pop, and

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin C ...

's '' Dazzle Ships'' – features several vocalists, including Moira Lambert and Donna Savage. However, after working with

on " Nothing Can Stop Us", they decided to make her the permanent vocalist, and Cracknell has written or co-written many of the band's songs. Saint Etienne were associated with the " indie dance" genre in the early 1990s. Their typical approach was to combine sonic elements (such as samples and digitally synthesized sounds) of the

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

that emerged in the wake of the so-called Second Summer of Love with an emphasis on songwriting involving romantic and introspective themes more commonly associated with traditional British pop and rock music. Early work demonstrated the influence of 1960s

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

, 1970s dub and rock as well as 1980s dance music, giving them a broad palette of sounds and a reputation for

eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...

. Years later, ''The Times'' wrote that they "deftly fused the grooviness of Swinging Sixties London with a post-

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...

backbeat". Their first two albums, ''Foxbase Alpha'' and ''So Tough'', feature sounds chiefly associated with

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

, such as standard

TR-909 The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is a drum machine introduced by Roland Corporation in 1983, succeeding the TR-808. It was the first Roland drum machine to use samples for some sounds, and the first with MIDI functionality, allowing it to syn ...

drum patterns and

Italo house Italo house (often simply referred to as "Italian" or "Italian house" in the UK) is a form of house music originating in Italy. Typically popular in Italy, Britain, and United States since the late 1980s, it fuses house music and Italo disco. Th ...

piano riffs mixed with original sounds, notable by the use of found dialogue, sampled from 1960s British realist cinema. In 1991, the band also released two singles, "7 Ways to Love" and "He Is Cola", under the name Cola Boy with different singers (one of them being future radio personality

Janey Lee Grace Janey Lee Grace (born 4 March 1960) is an English singer, author, television (VH-1 and ITV) presenter and radio disc jockey, first with Virgin Radio as a travel reporter and then graduating to her own late night show for the station. Car ...

, who recorded and appeared in the video for the former); their explanation for publishing under a

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

is that the tracks were "too cheesy for Saint Etienne. We'd have been finished overnight". The band would later produce an updated electro-house version of "7 Ways to Love" for Japanese singer

Nokko Nokko (born November 4, 1963) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actress. She was the lead singer of the popular band "Rebecca," which had a string of hits in Japan in the 1980s. Nokko was born in Urawa, Saitama, as . Under her stag ...

for her 1993 album "I Will Catch U" (also known as "Call Me Nightlife" for the United States, Canada and Europe), in which she added lyrics to the song in both Japanese and English. During the early 1990s the group enjoyed extensive coverage in UK music weekly papers '' NME'' and ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' and gained a reputation as purveyors of "pure pop" in the period immediately prior to the Brit-Pop explosion. ''So Tough'' reached No. 7 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. Their most popular singles of this period were " You're in a Bad Way" and " Join Our Club" (which reached No. 12 and No. 21 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

). '' Tiger Bay'' (1994) represented a change of direction: the entire album was inspired by

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

, combined with modern electronica. Although the album reached No. 8 in the UK Albums Chart, the singles performed disappointingly, with " Pale Movie", " Like a Motorway" and " Hug My Soul" reaching No. 28, No. 47 and No. 32 in the UK Singles Chart. In a 2009 interview, Bob Stanley said that in retrospect the band "got ahead of ourselves a bit" by releasing such an uncommercial album, which "definitely could have done with a couple more obvious songs". In 1995, they released their most successful single, "

He's on the Phone "He's on the Phone" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne in collaboration with French singer-songwriter Étienne Daho, released in October 1995. A fast-paced dance track, it is one of Saint Etienne's biggest hits, reaching number 11 on t ...

", a reworking of Étienne Daho's "Week-end à Rome" that they had created for a collaborative EP with Daho entitled '' Reserection''. It reached No. 11 on the UK chart. Stanley has said that with hindsight it was "a bit stupid" that the band "didn't release another single for two and a half years". Instead, they released a compilation album, '' Too Young to Die'' (1996), contributed a song to the

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

Random In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual ran ...

'' the following year, and then returned in 1998 with '' Good Humor'', which de-emphasized the contemporary dance music influence on their previous work, replacing it with a more traditional sound. Also in 1998 they covered "

La, la, la "La, la, la" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. It was the first time that Spain won the C ...

" on ''A Song for Eurotrash'', a compilation of re-imagined past hits from the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. (The song can be found on Fairfax High.) In 2000, they shifted toward a more atmospheric type of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

with the release of '' Sound of Water''. '' Finisterre'' was released in 2002. A follow-up DVD by photographer and film maker Paul Kelly was released in . In November 2004, they released their first US compilation of

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

, called '' Travel Edition 1990-2005''. 13 June 2005 saw the release of the band's album '' Tales from Turnpike House''. It was preceded by a single for the track "Side Streets". A second single, " A Good Thing", was released in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2005. Early editions of the album were accompanied by a six-track sampler CD for a planned album of children's songs entitled ''Up the Wooden Hills''. After years floating around various record labels, the band returned to its original label Heavenly for their 2009 career retrospective, '' London Conversations: The Best of Saint Etienne''. The album contained two singles, a reworked " Burnt Out Car" and a new track, the Richard X-produced " Method of Modern Love". The album also contained as a third "new" track, a remix by Richard X of the previously vinyl-only "This is Tomorrow". In May 2012, following the January release of the single "Tonight", the band released their eighth studio album, '' Words and Music by Saint Etienne''. Saint Etienne's ninth studio album, ''

Home Counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...

'', was released on 2 June 2017. Their tenth album, ''

I've Been Trying to Tell You ''I've Been Trying to Tell You'' is the tenth studio album by English alternative dance band Saint Etienne, released on 10 September 2021 through Heavenly Recordings. The album is set between the "optimistic" years of 1997 and 2001, and contains ...

'', was released on 10 September 2021. According to Pete Wiggs, the album was a lockdown project for the trio during the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to which they were working on a different set of tracks. In September 2021, he confirmed the group planned to revisit the material for a possible 2022 release.

Collaborations

1993's non-album single " Who Do You Think You Are" is a cover of a song by Candlewick Green. Saint Etienne recorded it as a duet with Debsey Wykes, former singer of Dolly Mixture. The song was also remixed by

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publicati ...

. In 1993, the band collaborated with

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

for two songs: a cover of "Nothing Can Stop Us" (intended at the time to be her first single release for her new label) and "When Are You Coming Home" (unreleased). The band also wrote and produced the 1993 single " One Goodbye in Ten" for

Shara Nelson Shara Nelson (born 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She worked with Massive Attack in the early 1990s, and as a solo artist had five UK top 40 hit singles. Her 1993 debut album, '' What Silence Knows'', was shortlisted for the Mercur ...

. The same year, the '' Xmas 93'' EP featured Tim Burgess from The Charlatans on the lead track " I Was Born on Christmas Day". In 1995, the band co-recorded the '' Reserection'' EP with French pop singer Étienne Daho; later, they also worked on his album ''Eden'' and single "Le Premier Jour". For the band's first greatest hits compilation, '' Too Young to Die – The Singles'' (1995),

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

producer

Steve Rodway Steve Rodway (born in Cambridgeshire), also known under the alias Motiv 8 or Motiv8, is a British electronic dance music producer, songwriter, remixer and sound engineer. While known for many remixes, including those produced for Erasure, Spice G ...

reworked the track "Accident" from the '' Reserection'' EP, producing the renamed single "

." The single, co-credited to Daho, gained the singer additional exposure to English-speaking audiences. In 2000, the band crossed genres by working with trance producer and DJ

Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...

, resulting in the single "

Tell Me Why (The Riddle) "Tell Me Why (The Riddle)" is a song by German DJ Paul van Dyk in collaboration with English indie dance band Saint Etienne, with Sarah Cracknell of the group on vocals. Released in May 2000, the song peaked at number seven on the UK Singles C ...

", with vocals by Cracknell. The 2005 album '' Tales from Turnpike House'' features

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most ...

as a guest vocalist. Several tracks on the album were co-written and co-produced by Brian Higgins' songwriting production team, Xenomania. Sarah Cracknell has collaborated with

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...

on his single "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" for his album '' Stardom Road''. In addition to the

Richard X Richard Philips, better known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for arti ...

collaboration on the "This is Tomorrow"/" Method of Modern Love" single, 2009 also saw the limited release of ''Foxbase Beta'', the producer's reworking of the band's debut album ''Foxbase Alpha''. ''

'', released in June 2017, features collaborations with London band Kero Kero Bonito.

Film and television work

The 1998 album ''

The Misadventures of Saint Etienne ''The Misadventures of Saint Etienne'' (1999) is an album by Saint Etienne. Released only in Japan, it served as the soundtrack to a British indie film called '' The Misadventures of Margaret'', starring Parker Posey. The soundtrack was recor ...

'' is the soundtrack to the

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

The Misadventures of Margaret ''The Misadventures of Margaret'' is a 1998 French-British romantic comedy film directed by Brian Skeet and starring Parker Posey, Jeremy Northam and Craig Chester. It was based on the novel '' Rameau's Niece'' by Cathleen Schine. The film is ...

'', starring

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

. After the soundtrack was completed, the film's producers opted to replace it with a more "conventional" soundtrack, but a number of tracks can still be heard in the background of the film's final version, and Saint Etienne received top "original music" credit on the film. The band also recorded a duet by Cracknell and Posey titled "Secret Love" for the soundtrack, but due to legal entanglements it has never been released. The band recorded the theme song and incidental music for '' Maryoku Yummy'', a 2010 children's television show that aired on

Tiny Pop Tiny Pop (styled as tiny POP) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. Broadcast on many of the major digital television platforms in the UK, Tiny Pop, which was ...

and

The Hub The Hub may refer to: Places * The Hub, Bronx, an area of the South Bronx, New York, known for its convergence of subway and bus lines * The Hub (Edinburgh), former church in Edinburgh that is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival * T ...

. The band has also been involved directly in film production, notably collaborating with filmmaker Paul Kelly on several short films documenting the landscape and history of London. The first of these was ''Finisterre'' (2002), set to songs from the album of the same name, inspired by the 1967 film ''The London Nobody Knows'' and Patrick Keiller's 1994 film ''London''. A series of three-minute films entitled "Today's Special" (2004) documented "London's disappearing cafés", while ''What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?'' (2005) looked at the landscape of the

Lower Lea Valley The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A 2005 documentary ''What Have You Done Today, Mer ...

, which was about to be transformed by the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. The band then revisited the area in 2012 for a short entitled ''Seven Summers''. In 2007, the band produced ''This Is Tomorrow'' in their capacity as artists-in-residence at the newly refurbished

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I li ...

, telling the story of the Hall's first 50 years. ''This Is Tomorrow'' premiered on 29 June 2007 as part of the Hall's opening season with the band performing the film soundtrack live. Most recently, in 2014, Saint Etienne and Kelly collaborated on ''How We Used To Live'', a view of London from 1945 to 1980, making extensive use of archive film. The band's most recent film is ''I've Been Trying to Tell You'' (2021), directed by

Alasdair McLellan Alasdair McLellan (born 1974) is a British photographer. Life and work McLellan was born in 1974 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. He has worked for the fashion press '' Vogue'' UK, ''Vogue Paris,'' ''i-D'', ''Love,'' ''Another Magazine,'' ''Anoth ...

and set to the music of the album of the same name. Unlike their previous films, it was filmed all around England; its premise was memories of teenage years and the late 1990s.

Songs in other films and television

" Like a Motorway" appears on the soundtrack of the 1994 film ''

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quant ...

'', although the single is never heard in the actual film itself. Their song "

Hobart Paving "Hobart Paving" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne from their second album, '' So Tough'' (1993). It was released by Heavenly Records on 11 May 1993 as a double A-side with the band's cover of "Who Do You Think You Are", originally ...

", with slightly altered lyrics (replacing the title lyric with the line "Hold on princess...") and an altered title ("Catch Me"), was covered for the soundtrack of the 1997 film ''

Bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

'', and was an integral part of the soundtrack album (one of two promotional videos released for the soundtrack was for the song), which became the best-selling soundtrack album to a European film soon after release. Actor/musician

Jasmin Tabatabai Jasmin Tabatabai ( fa, یاسمین طباطبائی ; born 8 June 1967 in Tehran, Iran, is a German actress and singer. Biography Jasmin Tabatabai's mother is German, and her father is Iranian. She was born and raised in Tehran until the 1979 ...

still performs that version in concert. "We're in the City" from the ''

Places to Visit ''Places to Visit'' is an extended play released by British group Saint Etienne in May 1999. It shows the band moving toward the experimental electronic sound that they explored further on their next official full-length release, 2000's ''Sound o ...

'' EP is featured in Jamie Babbit's 1999 film '' But I'm a Cheerleader''. Also in 1999, "Wood Cabin" from the '' Good Humor'' album appeared in " I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", the first season finale of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

''. "A Good Thing", co-written by Cracknell, Mark Waterfield and Lawrence Oakley, is featured in

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narra ...

's 2006 film ''

Volver ''Volver'' (, meaning "to go back") is a 2006 Spanish comedy-drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chu ...

'' and in the ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

season 2 Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album) * '' 2econd Season'' See also

* {{disambig ...

episode "Tell Me Sweet Little Lies".

Awards and nominations

{, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! scope="col" , Award ! scope="col" , Year ! scope="col" , Nominee(s) ! scope="col" , Category ! scope="col" , Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable", , - ! scope="row",

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the ...

, 1992 , '' Foxbase Alpha'' , Album of the Year , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan=2,

Popjustice £20 Music Prize The Popjustice £20 Music Prize, also known as the Popjustice Twenty Quid Prize, is an annual prize awarded by music website Popjustice to recognise the best British pop single of the previous year. The prize was conceived by Popjustice founder ...

, 2009 , " Method of Modern Love" , rowspan=2, Best British Pop Single , , rowspan=2, , - , 2012 , "Tonight" ,

Discography

* '' Foxbase Alpha'' (1991) * ''

So Tough ''So Tough'' is the second studio album by British band Saint Etienne, released in 1993. It is their highest-charting album to date, reaching No. 7 on the UK Album Chart. ''So Tough'' is the first Saint Etienne album to feature Sarah Crackn ...

'' (1993) * '' Tiger Bay'' (1994) * '' Good Humor'' (1998) * '' Sound of Water'' (2000) * '' Finisterre'' (2002) * '' Tales from Turnpike House'' (2005) * '' Words and Music by Saint Etienne'' (2012) * ''

'' (2017) * ''

'' (2021)

References

External links

*
SaintEtienneDisco.com
Saint Etienne Discography And News Page {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Etienne (Band) 1990 establishments in England Alternative dance musical groups British indie pop groups Creation Records artists English dance music groups English synth-pop groups Dance-pop groups Heavenly Recordings artists Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups from the London Borough of Croydon British musical trios Remixers Sub Pop artists Female-fronted musical groups