"Victims of the Riddle" is a song by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 ...

, released as the band's debut single in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

by Safari Records. The song later featured on the band's album '' Sheep Farming in Barnet''.

Background

The song was written by

, Keith Hale, Steve James, Joel Bogen and Peter Bush, and produced by James and Hale. Willcox has hinted that there was some friction within the band over the authorship, implying that even though she composed the music, it was eventually credited to another member of the band after he, out of jealousy, had threatened to leave the band. The song was recorded at the Chappell Studios in London and started as an experiment in which Willcox used her voice as an instrument. Her 20-minute vocal improvisation was then edited down to accommodate a shorter song length. The track incorporated synthesizer music which at that time was becoming more and more prominent. Releasing "Victims of the Riddle" as the band's first single was the vocalist's choice. "I wanted to be as weird and far away from the mainstream as possible. In fact, being weird was my priority. (...) Subject wise he song isstill just as off the wall and interesting", Willcox remarked in 2011. The single courted controversy due to its intentionally disturbing front cover image — a photograph of one of the

mummies of Guanajuato The Mummies of Guanajuato are a number of naturally mummified bodies originally interred in Guanajuato, Mexico. The human bodies appear to have been disinterred between 1870 and 1958. During that time, a local tax was in place requiring a fee ...

in Mexico (from a book by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

entitled '' The Mummies of Guanajuato''), holding a note which asked "Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Do both exist? Who can tell?". This was drawn over the original inscription, which bore the name of the actual mummy — Magdalena Aguilar, and her date of burial which was 8 September 1897. Her mummified body was exhumed on 27 December 1909. ''

NME ''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 music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' gave the song a mixed review, describing it as " gry and powerful, (...) riotously and genuinely performed. But painful and disappointing too, after all the pre-release build up". The song and its B-side, "Victims of the Riddle (Vivisection)", were later included on the band's first album, '' Sheep Farming in Barnet''. They also featured on the 2005 compilation album ''The Safari Singles Collection Part 1: 1979–1981''.

Track listing

*7" single :A. "Victims of the Riddle" (

, Keith Hale, Steve James, Joel Bogen, Peter Bush) – 3:38 :B. "Victims of the Riddle (Vivisection)" (Willcox, Hale, James, Bogen, Bush) – 3:57 Side A ran at 45

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

, while the lengthier side B ran at 33 rpm.

Personnel

– vocals * Joel Bogen – guitar * Mark Henry – bass * Steve Bray – drums * Peter Bush – keyboards

Charts

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
at

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Official audio stream
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

The official Toyah website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victims Of The Riddle 1979 debut singles 1979 songs Toyah (band) songs Songs written by Toyah Willcox Songs written by Joel Bogen Safari Records singles