"Contenders" is a song by the British new wave and

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

band

Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of founding Human League members Martyn Ware (keyboards, drum machine, vocals) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) with voc ...

, released on 6 October 1986 as the first single from their fourth studio album, '' Pleasure One''. It was written and produced by

Glenn Gregory Glenn Peter Gregory (born 16 May 1958) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synth-pop b ...

Ian Craig Marsh Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) is an English musician and composer. He was a founding member of the electronic band the Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form th ...

and

Martyn Ware Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware co-wrote hit songs such as " Being Boiled" and "Temptation". Wa ...

. The song reached No. 80 in the UK and spent four weeks on the chart. It also reached No. 6 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Dance/Club Play Singles Chart.

Background

"Contenders" preceded the release of Heaven 17's fourth album ''Pleasure One''. The band hoped the single would provide them with a hit after the disappointing charting of their single with

Jimmy Ruffin Jimmy Lee RuffinRibowsky, Mark (2010), ''Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations'', Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, p. 89. . (May 7, 1936 – November 17, 2014) was an American soul singer, and ...

, " The Foolish Thing to Do", earlier in the year. Like that single, "Contenders" also reached No. 80 in the UK Singles Chart. In a 1986 interview with ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'', Martyn Ware said of the song, "It's about the way the superpowers are constantly squaring off against each other. Look at all the struggles going on in the world, they're trying to carve the place up; everybody wants to be a contender, but at the same time they're not dealing with the real business."

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Leslie Libman and Larry Williams, and produced by Jane Reardon for Libman/Moore Productions. It was shot in California. Glenn Gregory revealed to ''Record Mirror'', "We used 50 black dancers. They were doing all sorts of crazy things, lots of breaking and making shapes all over the place. During one part of the action, they got me to do a back flip. With the title of the single being 'Contenders', it does hint that we would have done a Frankie-type video. World leaders and all that taking each other on. But we wanted to get away from those ideas as much as possible."

Critical reception

On its release, Paul Benbow of the ''

Reading Evening Post The ''Reading Post'' (formerly the ''Reading Evening Post'') was an English local newspaper covering Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. The title page of the paper featured the Maiwand Lion, a local landmark at Forbury Gardens. The paper ...

'' praised "Contenders" for being the "best thing they have done for ages". He wrote, "The boys show the young pretenders the right way to use an electro sound by adding a great beat and blue-eyed soul lyrics." John Lee of the ''

Huddersfield Daily Examiner The ''Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' is an English local daily evening newspaper covering news and sport from Huddersfield, England, and its surrounding areas. History The first edition was published as a weekly, starting on 6 September 1851 ...

'' described the "crispy and choppy" song as "the brightest Heaven 17 single for some time". He added that Gregory's vocals "combine neatly with funky guitaring to make a song which breaks down the barriers between dancefloor and pop chart".

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture. Reynold ...

of ''

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. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' commented, "This one practically hurls itself off the ropes at you, solid funk brawn but light on its feet, bobbing and weaving, jabbing and pummeling and always on the attack, but, somehow, failing to deliver that hook to floor you completely. The killer blow never comes." Cath Carroll of ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'' was critical of the song, calling it "feeble, finger-snapping jive-talk from Heaven 17 which is even more disappointing than you'd probably imagine".

Formats

7-inch single #"Contenders" - 4:28 #"Excerpts From "Diary of a Contender" - 5:24 12-inch single #"Contenders (Dance version)" - 6:23 #"Excerpts From 'Diary of a Contender'" - 5:24 #"Contenders (Full length version)" - 5:19 12-inch single (US release) #"Contenders (Dance version)" - 7:45 #"Contenders (Edited version) " - 3:10 #"Contenders (Instrumental version)" - 5:12 #"Contenders (Go Go version)" - 6:39 12-inch single (limited edition gatefold) #"Contenders (Dance version)" - 6:22 #"Excerpts From 'Diary of a Contender'" - 5:24 #"Penthouse & Pavement" - 6:33 #"Megamix (Edit)" - 6:36

Personnel

Heaven 17 *

- lead and backing vocals, producer, arranger, mixing, engineer *

- sampler ( E-mu Emulator II),

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

E-mu SP-12 The E-mu SP-12 is a sampling drum machine. Designed in 1984, SP-12 was announced by E-mu Systems in 1985. Expanding on the features of E-mu’s affordable and commercially successful Drumulator, a programmable digital drum machine, SP-12 introduc ...

programming, producer, arranger, mixing, engineer *

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, music sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commerc ...

programming, producer, arranger, mixing, engineer Additional personnel * Carol Kenyon - backing vocals * Tim Cansfield - guitar * Phil Spalding - bass * Brian Tench - mixing * Tim Hunt, Ben Knape - engineers * John 'Tokes' Potoker - remixer of "Penthouse & Pavement" * Sanny X - remixer of "Megamix (Edit)"

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles Heaven 17 songs Songs written by Martyn Ware Songs written by Glenn Gregory Songs written by Ian Craig Marsh Virgin Records singles