'Windpower' is 26 today!
On this day in 1982, I released my fifth UK single, ‘Windpower.’ It reached #31 in the UK charts, and not long afterwards I performed it on Top Of The Pops. I think the teen audience (and Sylvian-esque DJ Kid Jensen) must have been very confused! Most of them must be in their 40′s by now. After all, it took quite a few years for renewable energy to catch on, didn’t it? You can see the video here:
Happy Birthday windpower!
Ah, those days of AM radio. I remember well hearing this on Radio One and stopping eating in mid-chew. I sat there completely still until the end of the song with my bacon and egg going cold.
Is it really 25 years? Well Windpower is certainly a song that has weathered the ravages of time well. It is even more relevant today that it was a quarter of a century ago. -’getting even more relevant every day too.
A favorite of many here I bet.
Cheers for the nostalgia,
Jon
I remember seeing ‘Windpower’ being performed on that David Essex talent show thingy. Votes were cast by the audience, I think.
They were just as confused as the TOTP lot!
I can’t believe that was 25 years ago. And I ‘hit 40′ this year, in fact.
Nice one, Thomas… a definite favourite of mine.
Cheers,
Darren.
i do still love that bassline!
now, what to do to celebrate such an anniversary?
t
How much energy did it take to run all those wind and smoke machines?!?!
At least you weren’t using any power on the keyboard and drums!
Beech
Congrats. It’s still one of my favorite of your songs discovered after the “Blinded By Science” fame. It made me sit up and take notice.
Congratulations on the significant anniversary of a song that grows more timely with every day!
I was clueless about this anniversary, but the song has been on my mind all week. I followed a guy around the cafeteria at work last Monday because I was quite taken with his NatGeo t-shirt with cool wind turbines on it and just the words “Windpower: I am a believer” on the front. If he can track down another one, it’s yours.
As of last year, our office is powered with wind energy credits. This year, we’ve gone green in the cafeteria, and we’re working a modified shorter schedule for the summer.
You were well ahead of the curve, Thomas.
Now there’s a blast from the past – I would have been a schoolboy around 14 or 15 living in South Africa so no Top Of The Pops for me. I bought Golden Age of Wireless on vinyl and Windpower was one of my favourite tracks along with One Of Our Submarines and Cloudburst, although it was Blinded With Science which first hooked me.
Incidentally, as cheesy as it may sound, seeing you on the cover of GAOW was one of the things that spurred me on to studying electrical engineering – ah to be young and impressionable again.
I remember that TOTP and bought the 12″ single
Still got it!
It prompted me to write a cringingly girly piece of fanmail to you, Thomas to which you kindly replied!
Still got it!
Desparately wanted to go to see you promote the single at local nightclub but it was midweek and my parents wouldn’t let me go on a school night!!!!!
But is it really 25 years!!!!!!
*cough* 26 years *cough*
…which makes it all the better for its longetivity.
Like ‘SNOOPY’ says…. “I remember that TOTP and bought the 12″ single,Still got it!…”
I heard the single on radio before the TOTP performance but it’s the first time I had ever seen TMDR. Fantastic.
More TV performances please. Go and ask Jool’s if your can be on his ‘Later’ program. Go on ..go on … go on !
Windpower……. I’m 46 now, still playing synths, although they’re not “cool” anymore. Thanks for the refreshing memories! Trigging samples off Symmons drum pads… oh the fun of it all! The beauty of a dream is that you never let it go.
Hey thomas can you still remember when the wind blew through your hair. Lol.
IT may be 25 years ago but jon marsh who done the weather forcast at the end is still reading the news on radio 2.
Duckorange wins a special prize for being the only one to notice the deliberate mistake! A Blue Peter pencil!!
Funny that you mentioned Sylvian.., i´ve been a “fan” of both Dolby and Sylvian since the early eighties, and still is
And both of you have worked with Sakamoto… it would be very exciting if the three of you did something together!
what do you think of that Thomas ?
…a continent, a continent, a continental…YEAH!
Switch off the mind and let the heart decide… (sage advice in any context)
26 years..seems like yesterday.
A song three years older than me, and still sounds like the future.
Hey, David Byrne is working with Brian Eno again, and you might be putting out an album soon…. I feel like I’m getting a chance to experience some of the excitement of the early 1980s that I missed out on the first time ’round.
you shouldn’t have any trouble blowing out all those candles… windpower has one of the raunchiest bass sounds in recent history. what synth was that raspy sound made on?
first timer here . Mr. Dolby has caught the attention of sonicstate.com . their weekly podcast discusses this very subject . it’s a great listen with one of the regulars having worked with Mr. Dolby during the beatnik era
still one of my favorite dolby songs . I feel so old though !?!
Wow.
No, really. WOW.
I am touched. TOUCHED.
Touched by the pointy end of a BP pencil. Ouch.
Hello , first time poster, Wash.,D.C. area – I was first exposed to your music in 1983 by a cousin of my musical collaborator who was a DJ at a ‘progressive’ club in Washington (well, there were 1 or 2…) – gave us an import copy of “Golden Age of Wireless”, and have been an huge fan ever since – you are ‘the man’, sir, or at least one of ‘the men’ -Carry on!
p.s. he also turned us on to “Men at Work”, so not all of his picks were, well . . . . . . nevermind!
oh, ooooops! -just reading back through the old blogs I see that some gigs on the tour were with Colin Hay, so please disregard above joke (that’s all it was anyway) and here’s an alternative: I’m wearing a t-shirt right now from a film dubbing and mixing studio in Amsterdam that’s a take-off on the OTHER Dolby company’s logo, it says “DOLBLY”. The joke is that in Dutch, “dol bly” means “completely happy”.
Glad you’re music-ing still, please keep touring so we can all come see you!
…I echo the words of many of the regular posters here, or rather the gasps when we all realise that such a long time has passed.. ..sooo many things have changed – and yet so many have stayed the same <>. Just on question about the TOTP performance.. what did you use to trigger the canned clapping at the end of the track.. and OMG all that hair in one place at the same time, these days the health and safety guys would have declared that a fire hazard; you know what they say – hair today, none tomorrow; speaking from experience!!!
.. Ive suggested this before.. how-about a DVD of all the old videos? Come on’ u know it makes sense!!!
“The future is roses… ROSES!”
Happy birthday to one of my all-time fave Dolby songs!!!
Monica
26 Years?!? That can’t be right. CAN’T be right!!! *looks at birth certificate in stunned surprise*
Also, just discovered you’re playing my company’s Big Anniversary Event on the 20th of this month. Having seen your last two shows in our city, I’m fairly excited to see another. Technology + music. How very TED-like.
hehe ok now I’m freaked out, I watched that the first time around and it doesn’t seem like longer than 10-15 years… dammit looking down the wrong and of the telescope AGAIN.
Wonderful clip. Was that lightbulb supposed to go on btw?
Okay. I have to say… thank you for an INCREDIBLY relevant talk tonight, and for a lovely sample of real time construction of a couple of songs. Even when it’s just the hits (and when the software gives you hassles), I love what you do. I’m sorry that by the time you went up everybody was a little inebriated and not totally involved, but you were, as always, engaging and brilliant. I’m also sorry that I was a bit of a drooling fan girl when I spoke to you, but I’ve been a fan of yours for over 20 years, and the fact that you’re completely plugged in to the technology of 2008 in no way eclipses the wonderful musical landscapes you created 20-25+ years ago. Thank you for speaking at our event, for making an effort to play to the industry we are a part of, and for being gracious when we were not 100% with you. You are a consummate professional, and I am very lucky to have gotten to meet you and see you speak and play another time.
EMBRACE THE CHAOS!!!
( This is me, btw, in case you a) actually read these comments, and b) wonder who you talked to that thought you rocked so much: http://www.chicksinga.com/images/wasilko/IMG_7980e225p.jpg )
Like everyone else Tom, thanks for the memories. You were the first rock concert I ever attended up here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am still a huge fan… and I will NEVER forget how you walked on to the stage at the Jubilee Auditorium with a Cigar in yer mouth… and started hammering away on the keyboards.
I ALSO loved it when you invited the shy crowd up to the stage at the protest of the security at the venue.
And.. what they all said… I FEEL SO OLD NOW.. but then.. I have to think.. you feel the same.. and you had HAIR back then. The MOST COOLEST HAIR OF THE EIGHTIES MAN! I tried to comb it JEST like yers.
Tom… just subscribed to your blog… first post.. long time watcher… looking forward to more in the future.
Regards,
Lance (Ranger Bob) Taylor
PS – The gal who played keyboards at the concert ROCKED! I still can’t get that image out of my mind when she layed her knees across the KYBDS. =)
OK so I know I am 2 years behind but I just joined and am browsing …erm I mean working hard.. This is just great; I had “Wireless” when it came out and wanted Windpower” to be released…specially with the shipping forecast at the end. All the wind and smoke it looks like a Bee Gees concert (oops….so I believe – ahem) But how did you manage to keep a straight face taping those? I read your post about re-recording (or not) for TOTP. I agree that you and David Sylvian were the coolest dudes around and inspired me to buy some NHS specs from an antique shop and get plain glass in them so I could have “The Look”. And oh dear… Kid Jensen? I was 20 when this came out and it amazes me now to watch TOTP on Youtube and see how bad some of them were and we didn’t know it.. I have to confess that this STILL looks “Cool” and if you removed the audience you wouldn’t know. Well… maybe the instruments too.