The Normal
Primary members: Daniel Miller
Band Biography
Album/songs of focus: Warm Leatherette EP (1978), "Warm Leatherette" and "TV O.D."

"Warm Leatherette"

"A friend of mine said, 'You've got to read this book [i.e., Crash],' and I read it, and it really had a huge impact (laughs). It wasn't like science fiction in the sense that it was outer space and stuff like that. It felt like it was five minutes into the future, and I loved that aspect of it—the fact that it was kind of so outrageous but so possible at the same time....The music was supposed to be visual—you know, like driving along a highway with big buildings on either side and going into tunnel. There's quite a lot of humor in it, really; it wasn't meant to be like apocalyptic or dystopian." - Daniel Miller, from the BBC documentary Synth Britannia (2009)

See the breaking glass In the underpass See the breaking glass In the underpass Warm leatherette Hear the crushing steel Feel the steering wheel Hear the crushing steel Feel the steering wheel Warm leatherette Warm leatherette

Warm leatherette Melts on your burning flesh You can see your reflection In the luminescent dash Warm leatherette A tear of petrol Is in your eye The hand brake Penetrates your thigh Quick - Let's make love Before you die On warm leatherette Warm leatherette Warm leatherette Warm leatherette Warm leatherette

The Human League
Primary members: Martyn Ware, Ian Marsh, Phil Oakey
Band Biography
Album/songs of focus: The Golden Hour of The Future (1978), "4JG"

"4JG"

Gary Numan
Band Biography
Album/songs of focus: The Pleasure Principle (1979), "Cars"

"Cars"

Here in my car I feel safest of all I can lock all my doors It's the only way to live in cars Here in my car I can only receive I can listen to you It keeps me stable for days in cars

Here in my car Where the image breaks down Will you visit me please If I open my door in cars Here in my car You know I've started to think About leaving tonight Although nothing seems right in cars

John Foxx
Band Biography
Album/songs of focus: Metamatic (1980), "Plaza" and "Underpass"

"Plaza"

On the plaza We're dancing slowly lit like photographs Across the plaza Toward the shadow of the cenotaph Down escalators, come to the sea view Behind the smoked glass no one sees you A familiar figure comes to meet you I remember your face from some shattered windscreen Across the plaza A giant hoarding of Italian cars Across the plaza The lounge is occupied by seminars

Down escalators, come to the sea view Behind the smoked glass no one sees you A familiar figure comes to meet you I remember your face from some shattered windscreen From the plaza The highways curve in over reservoirs On the plaza A queue is forming for the cinemas Down escalators, come to the sea view Behind the smoked glass no one sees you A familiar figure comes to meet you I remember your face from some shattered windscreen On the plaza (Repeat and fade)

Joy Division
Primary members: Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris
Band Biography
Album/songs of focus: Unknown Pleasures (1979), "Disorder" and Closer (1980), "Atrocity Exhibition"

"Disorder" (recorded live, 2 May 1980)

I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man? The sensations barely interest me for another day I've got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away It's getting faster, moving faster now, It's getting out of hand On the tenth floor, down the back stairs— it's a no man's land Lights are flashing, cars are crashing: Getting frequent now I've got the spirit, lose the feeling Let it out somehow

What means to me, what means to you, and we will meet again, I'm watching you, I'm watching her, I'll take no pity from your friends Who is right, who can tell, and who gives a damn right now I've got the spirit, lose the feeling Let it out somehow I've got the spirit, lose the feeling Let it out somehow I've got the— I've got the spirit, but lose the feeling! I've got the spirit, but lose the feeling! Lose the feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling...