Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing
Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing is an EP by English synthpop duo Soft Cell, released in the United Kingdom on 21 June 1982 by Some Bizzare Records. It produced a top five hit, a cover of Judy Street's 1966 song "What?", as well as remixes of both sides of the band's first single, "Memorabilia" and "A Man Could Get Lost".
Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing is widely recognized as being one of the first house records in the United Kingdom, as well as the first record in the UK to feature turntable scratches. However, it is notable that the scratch sounds heard on the record were not created on actual turntables but, rather, on producer Mike Thorne's Serge synthesizer.
As the name implies, Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing was conceived, by the band's own admission, under the influence of MDMA (commonly referred to as ecstasy). The album and its inspiration, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, were both recorded almost simultaneously in New York City at a time when its gay club scene was just beginning to emerge. Vocalist Marc Almond later admitted in an interview with journalist Simon Tebbutt that the album's sound, as well as the sound of the band, was influenced by a short stint working at The Warehouse, a popular nightclub in Leeds. The album is much more dance-oriented than Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, with extended versions and instrumental cuts of various songs from its predecessor as well as several new tracks.
The album caused some controversy as well with the music video for the song "Sex Dwarf", which included whips, raw meat, chainsaws, transvestites, and even a so-called "sex dwarf". An unedited version of the video was seized by police and provided fuel for major scandal, largely fueled by tabloid newspapers, that eventually resulted in violence and unrest at many concerts during a small club tour to promote their video collection, Soft Cell's Non-Stop Exotic Video Show. The band went on hiatus for a small period of time after the album's release, with David Ball taking time to reconcile with his girlfriend and Almond performing with Marc and the Mambas. This fueled rumours that the band was splitting up; although they would release two more albums (1983's The Art of Falling Apart and 1984's This Last Night in Sodom), tensions were already beginning to tear the band apart.
Read more about Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing: Track Listing, Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words non-stop, ecstatic and/or dancing:
“Miller is not really a writer but a non-stop talker to whom someone has given a typewriter.”
—Gerald Brenan (1894–1987)
“I have got enough of the old masters! Brown says he has “shook” them, and I think I will shake them, too. You wander through a mile of picture galleries and stare stupidly at ghastly old nightmares done in lampblack and lightning, and listen to the ecstatic encomiums of the guides, and try to get up some enthusiasm, but it won’t come.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“We have dancing ... from soon after sundown until a few minutes after nine o’clock.... Occasionally the boys who play the female partners in the dances exercise their ingenuity in dressing to look as girlish as possible. In the absence of lady duds they use leaves, and the leaf-clad beauties often look very pretty and always odd enough.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)