"Burning Car" is a song by

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the New wave music, new wave band Ultravox, before leaving ...

, released as a single in 1980. It was his third solo single, following "Underpass" and "No-One Driving" earlier in the year. The track was not included on Foxx's debut solo album ''

Metamatic ''Metamatic'' is the debut solo album by John Foxx, released in 1980. It was his first solo project following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the mix of synthesizers and conventional rock music, rock instrumentation ...

'', post-dating its January 1980 release, but has been included as a bonus track on the 2001 and 2007 CD reissues. It was Foxx's last 1980s record in a hard-edged

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 came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

style (his next single, " Miles Away", featured acoustic drums and a somewhat warmer production). "Burning Car" developed the

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

style of ''Metamatic'' and was pacier than most of the album's material. Its staccato introduction was reminiscent of the metallic guitar notes that kicked off the track "Some of Them" from ''

Systems of Romance ''Systems of Romance'', released on 8 September 1978, is the third studio album by British new wave band Ultravox (an exclamation mark having been dropped from the name earlier in the year). It was the final recording for the group with original ...

'', Foxx's last album with former band

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which wa ...

. The title came from a chapter in

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist and short-story writer, satirist and essayist known for psychologically provocative works of fiction that explore the relations between human psychology, technology, s ...

's SF novel ''

Concrete Island ''Concrete Island'' is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1974. Plot introduction A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large a ...

'' and its automobile reference was shared by a number of tracks on ''Metamatic''. The B-side, "20th Century", was used as the theme for the

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

arts and music show ''20th Century Box''. The songs were recorded in the same "eight-track cupboard in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

" as ''Metamatic'', and again engineered by Gareth Jones. No instrumental credits appeared on the original single, however Foxx's studio equipment at the time included

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog circuit, analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Minimoog, Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, a ...

and

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s, an Elka 'String Machine', a

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine manufactured by Roland Corporation that was released in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular b ...

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 ...

, an ARP Analog Sequencer and various phasing and flanger units. The recording of "Burning Car" features a prominent use of the "metal beat" hi-hat sound from the CR-78; Foxx used the name MetalBeat for his own

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. The single made #35 in the UK charts and was also released in picture disc form with a different image to the original cover. "Burning Car" appears on the John Foxx compilations ''Assembly'' (1992), ''Modern Art'' (2001) and '' Metatronic'' (2010), and both the A- and B-sides are included on the 2001 and 2007 reissue of ''Metamatic'' (the 1993 edition had featured only "20th Century"). Extended live versions of both songs appear on Foxx's album ''Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour'' (1998) with Louis Gordon (reissued in 2002 as the second of a 2-disc set, ''The Golden Section Tour + The Omnidelic Exotour''). "Burning Car"'s style and subject matter have been echoed in Foxx's recent original albums with Louis Gordon: ''Shifting City'', ''Pleasures of Electricity'' and ''Crash and Burn''. An "early version" of "Burning Car" is included on the 2010 ''Metatronic'' compilation. The song remains a John Foxx

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

and is regularly performed live, also by the new formation of

John Foxx and the Maths John Foxx and the Maths is a musical project featuring electronic music pioneer John Foxx, Benge and more recently Hannah Peel. The group specialises in the use of analogue synthesizers and drum machines. It was initially a studio based pr ...

featuring additional violin played by Hannah Peel as documented on the 2010 live performance ''Analogue Circuit'' CD/DVD (issued 2013).

Track listing

#"Burning Car" (

) – 3:13 #"20th Century" (John Foxx) – 3:05

Picture disc

The single was also issued as a 7" picture disc with the same catalogue number. The A side features a reflected image of Foxx against venetian blinds while the B side features a burning car, the same image as used for the reverse of the regular 7" picture sleeve.

Japanese EP

"Burning Car" is also the title and lead-track of a six track John Foxx vinyl EP issued in 1981 in Japan only. # Burning Car 3:14 # 20th Century 3:05 # This City 3:06 # Miles Away 3:26 # A Long Time 3:50 # Mr. No 3:16 The record is housed in a grey die-cut sleeve with over-sized 6" picture photo labels of John Foxx. " Miles Away" is John Foxx's successive single release with "A Long Time" as the B side. However this version of "Miles Away" is slightly different from the standard 7" single and can be found on the Edsel Records reissue of '' The Garden'' CD album (EDSD 2014) where it is known as the "Alternative Version".

Karborn Dubterror remix

* A: Burning Car (Dubterror remix) * B: 20th century (Dubterror remix) September 2008, Metamatic Records, META 17, 12" vinyl limited edition. This remix of Burning Car also available on '' Glimmer (Best of John Foxx)'' compilation album.

20th Century

An edit of "20th Century", the B side to "Burning Car", was used as the

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

to the

Janet Street-Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career in 1969 as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was appointed fashion ...

produced LWT series ''20th Century Box'' (later ''Twentieth Century Box''). The weekly programme hosted by reporter

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fa ...

covered topical issues for young people. Musical trends were also covered, including an early episode on the group

Spandau Ballet Spandau Ballet ( ) were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids (New Romantics), ...

before they had a recording contract, and

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

as part of the new "electro-disco" scene. The show ran from June,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

to September,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. The track was revived by Foxx for live performances with

Louis Gordon Louis Gordon (born 1965) is an English musician notable for his collaboration with John Foxx. He has worked with Foxx on a number of albums since 1995. His solo work has also been released on the Toffeetones record label. Biography John Foxx had ...

from 1998 onwards, as documented on the albums ''Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour'' (1997), ''Retro Future'' (2007) and ''A New Kind Of Man'' (2008). In later live performances the single lyric "twentieth century!" is modified to "twenty-first century!". The studio version of "20th Century" was included on re-issues of the ''

'' album in 2001 and 2007.

Personnel

* John Foxx –

rhythm 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 ...

(

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Notes

External links

Metamatic
- the official John Foxx website (discography section) * {{authority control John Foxx songs 1980 songs Songs written by John Foxx Songs about cars Virgin Records singles