808 State
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808 State are an English
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
group formed in 1987 in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. Taking their name from the Roland TR-808
drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...
and the "state of mind" the members shared, they released their debut album '' Newbuild'' in September 1988. They secured commercial success in 1989, when their song " Pacific State" was picked up by
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
DJ Gary Davies and charted for 11 weeks in the UK. The group's early work influenced the UK's burgeoning
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 synt ...
scene.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
called them "one of the most important
dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...
acts of all time," and noted their influence on subsequent techno, IDM, and alternative dance artists.


History

Martin Price owned Manchester's influential Eastern Bloc Records and was also the founder of the
independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...
, Creed. Customers Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson joined with Price to form a hip hop group called Hit Squad Manchester. The group shifted to an acid house sound and recorded their debut '' Newbuild'' in 1988, under the name 808 State. ''Newbuild'' was released on Price's own record label. In an interview with ''Mojo'' magazine in 2005, Graham Massey explained that the album was recorded over a weekend in January 1988 at Spirit Studios, Manchester. Named after a Bolton housing co-operative, the record was re-released in 2005 on
Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...
's Rephlex Records. Aphex Twin was a huge fan of the record: "It was the next step after Chicago acid, and as much as I loved that, I could relate much better to 808 State. It seemed colder and more human at the same time." Around the same time, the band also recorded an acid house version of New Order's " Blue Monday". A favourite at The Haçienda's Hot Night, the recording was believed lost until Autechre's Sean Booth asked Massey to dig through his archive of old material. The record was released in 2004 by Rephlex Records. "We didn't put a lot of thought into it but maybe that's its charm," said Massey at the time. The band's song "Pacific State" became the band's breakthrough single, peaking at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Simpson left the group in 1989 to form his own solo project, A Guy Called Gerald. At this point, the remaining personnel enlisted DJs Andrew Barker and Darren Partington, known as the Spinmasters, and recorded the mini-album '' Quadrastate'' in July 1989. The group signed to ZTT records, and '' 90'' was released in December 1989. MC Tunes worked with the band on the 1990 album ''The North at Its Heights''. The album was a moderate success, reaching number 26 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
, and also saw a European and Japanese release. It spawned three UK singles, "The Only Rhyme That Bites" – featuring a sample of "The Big Country" performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic (UK number 10), "Tunes Splits the Atom" (UK number 18) and "Primary Rhyming" (UK number 67). The first two issues credited MC Tunes versus 808 State, whilst the latter was simply MC Tunes. Tunes later returned in 1996 to work on a new track, "Pump", taken from 808 State's album ''Thermo Kings''. 808 State's next album, 1991's '' ex:el'', featured the vocals of Bernard Sumner and
Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
and the singles " In Yer Face" (UK #9), "Cubik" (UK #10) and "Lift" (UK #38). In October 1991, Price left the group to perform solo production work, eventually forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining members released a fourth album called '' Gorgeous'', and after that, did some remix work for
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
, Soundgarden, and other performers, before returning with the album entitled '' Don Solaris'' in 1996. It featured vocal contributions from James Dean Bradfield on "Lopez", which reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and was remixed by
Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...
. In 1997, they had remixed the Mansun track " Skin Up Pin Up" for the ''Spawn'' soundtrack. The song "Bond" featured vocals by Mike Doughty from the band Soul Coughing and "Azura" featured Lou Rhodes from Lamb. They released a greatest hits
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
, '' 808:88:98'' in 1998. In 2000, ''Newbuild'' was re-released. Some of the band's work, particularly in the albums ''ex:el'' and ''Gorgeous'' show their new wave influences by sampling or featuring new wave icons such as Bernard Sumner on the song "Spanish Heart" and Ian McCulloch on "Moses". The song "Contrique" samples the bassline to Joy Division's " She's Lost Control" and "10 X 10" is a gospel-house track built on the foundation of the Jam's "
Start! "Start!" is the eleventh UK single release by the Jam and their second number-one, following " Going Underground"/" Dreams of Children". Upon its release on 15 August 1980, it debuted at number three, and two weeks later reached number one for ...
". In 2003, they released '' Outpost Transmission'' which featured guest collaborations from Alabama 3 and Guy Garvey from
Elbow The elbow is the region between the upper arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and t ...
. In May 2008, the re-issue of the mini-album '' Quadrastate'' completed a trilogy of pre-ZTT releases on CD for the first time. Partington left the band after being jailed for 18 months in January 2015 for dealing
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
and crack cocaine.808 State DJ Darren Partington jailed for drug dealing
''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
'', 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
Barker died on 6 November 2021, leaving Massey as the sole remaining member of the group.Andy Barker (808 State) RIP
'' Louder Than War'', 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.


Musical style

808 State's style has been labeled as techno and
house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
, and the band are regarded as "a pioneer of the
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 synt ...
sound". The band's album, ''Newbuild'', was influential in the development of the Madchester and baggy scenes.


Pseudonyms and side projects

In 1990, 808 State composed the theme tune to the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...
me, '' The Word''. Partington and Barker presented the ''808 State Radio Show'', first on Sunset 102 from 1989 to 1993, and later on Kiss 102 from 1994 to 1997. In 2012, they reinvented the program as the ''808 State Webio Show'' for a number of months on Mike Joyce's internet based BeatWolf Radio. 808 State and its various members have recorded under a variety of pseudonyms. An early EP, containing the tracks "Massage-a-Rama" and "Sex Mechanic", was released under the name Lounge Jays. These tracks have since been re-released by Rephlex Records on the ''Prebuild'' LP. Another early EP, ''Wax on the Melt'', was released under the name Hit Squad Mcr. This is the only release on which all five members of the group (Massey, Price, Simpson, Barker, and Partington) contributed simultaneously. Massey released the solo album ''Subtracks'' under the name Massonix on Skam Records. He was a member of Biting Tongues, an experimental jazz rock group once signed to
Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order (band), New Order, A Certain Ra ...
. He also created the
big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
project called Massey's Toolshed Allstars (eventually shortened to 'Toolshed'). Under the pseudonym Professor Vernon World, Massey as drummer/producer with the ladies combo organ quartet the Sisters of Transistors released an album, and is also a member of Sun Ra homage the Part-Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club. Price released a couple of EPs under the name Switzerland. He also managed the band Kaliphz (later known as Kaleef) who had a hit with a hip-hop cover version of the Stranglers' " Golden Brown". Barker has produced a small number of tracks under the names Atlas and Benaco. Partington has also recorded under the name Jeep.


Band members

* Graham Massey (born 4 August 1960,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
) – keyboards, programming, guitars,
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
(1987–present)


Former members

* Gerald Simpson (born 16 February 1967,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
) – keyboards (1987–1989) * Martin Price (born 26 March 1955, Farnworth) – keyboards (1987–1991) * Darren Partington (born 1 November 1969,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
) – keyboards, congas, electronic drums (1989–2015) * Andy Barker (9 March 1968,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
– 6 November 2021) – keyboards, bass (1989–2021)


Discography

Studio albums * '' Newbuild'' (1988) * '' Quadrastate'' (mini-album) (1989) * '' 90'' (1989) * '' ex:el'' (1991) * '' Gorgeous'' (1993) * '' Don Solaris'' (1996) * '' Outpost Transmission'' (2002) * '' Transmission Suite'' (2019)


References


External links

* * * Ian Peel:
Warriors of Pop, 21 years of ZTT
' Record Collector, September 2004 (copy at ''Zang Tuum Tumb and all that'') Article about ZTT's history, and contains information about 808 State * {{DEFAULTSORT:808 State Acid house groups Alternative dance musical groups English electronic music groups English house music groups Madchester groups Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups from Manchester English remixers Rephlex Records artists Tommy Boy Records artists Warner Records artists ZTT Records artists 1987 establishments in England