Kissing the pink

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Kissing the pink
General information
origin London , England
Genre (s) New wave , synth-pop , dance
founding 1980
Founding members
Guitar , lead vocals
Nicholas Whitecross
Keyboard , synthesizer , vocals
 Jon Kingsley Hall
Keyboard, vocals
 Peter George Stewart
Saxophone , vocals
 Josephine Wells
Electric bass , violin , vocals
 Peter Barnett
Drums , percussion , vocals
 Stevie Cusack
Guitar, vocals
 Simon Aldridge

Kissing the Pink is a British new wave band formed in London , England in 1980 . The musical direction of the band developed in the course of its existence from partly progressive new wave and experimental synth-pop to a dance- and soul- oriented sound.

history

Foundation, name and first single

Kissing the Pink was founded in 1980 around the Royal College of Music in London. The founding members all lived in the same house "in a creative atmosphere" in North London.

The name "Kissing the Pink" was derived from an expression snapped up by band members from a billiards sports program in which a commentator had appropriately described the gentle bumping of a particularly soft ball against another. The ambiguity of the term regarding cunnilingus was accepted approvingly when the name was given. The first single Don't Hide in the Shadows was produced by the then style-defining New Wave producer Martin Hannett ( Joy Division , The Psychedelic Furs ), but was not very successful commercially.

First albums with a progressive orientation

After the record company switched to Magnet Records, Kissing the Pink recorded their first studio album, Naked, with producer Colin Thurston ( David Bowie , Duran Duran , The Human League ) . The music corresponded to the mixture of synth-pop and new wave common at the time , but had a more experimental orientation than many more successful acts at the time. The single release The Last Film led to a moderate chart success in Great Britain (19th place in 1983). The album was also able to place itself and reached number 54 in the summer of 1983. The remix version of the title Big Man Restless achieved seasons in clubs and discos , especially in Germany . With the second album What Noise , released a year later , this direction was continued and refined in favor of a somewhat calmer, sometimes elegiac sound (such as in the title Each Day In Nine ).

Commercial success with a dance focus

From the mid-1980s, the band complied with the specifications of their record company Magnet Records. Among other things, with a view to the US market, a more commercial sound and a change in the ambiguous band name were called for. The harmless acronym KTP (alternatively also KTP ), a reduced line-up and the album Certain Things Are Likely were results of this process. The entire album and especially the single releases Never Too Late to Love You , One Step and Certain Things Are Likely documented the sound changed towards dance and soul. The latter single was able to assert itself in a remix version in May 1987 for several weeks in the US Dance Billboard charts. Other releases achieved sales successes in continental Europe (e.g. One Step in Italy came to number 1 on the local charts).

Last regular album

In 1988 the band gave up the abbreviation KTP in favor of their original name and called themselves again Kissing the Pink. With the single Stand Up , released in the same year, the remaining musicians confirmed the radio and club-compatible musical direction. The last regular Kissing-the-Pink album Sugarland , released in 1993 after a few years of relative calm, had almost nothing in common with the sound of the early years. Kissing the Pink had developed their sound for this album into a mix of psychedelia, house and pop that could be danceable again .

Producer activities and more recent developments

After the last album, the remaining band members Nick Whitecross, Jon Kingsley Hall and George Stewart limited their activities essentially to producing other artists and composing ( Candy Dulfer , Shea Seger ). In 2010/2011 there were announcements for a new Kissing-the-Pink album, which has not yet been released.

style

The sound of Kissing the Pink in the first and middle years was largely determined by the use of synthesizers (synth-pop, such as in the title Watching Their Eyes on the first album Naked ). Multi-part choir and set singing (as in Big Man Restless on Naked or The Other Side of Heaven on the album What Noise ) as well as frequent use of the saxophone ( Maybe This Day on Naked ) completed the sound. On the album What Noise , elegiac, ballad-like melodies and keyboard sequences increasingly came to the fore. The titles Greenham , Footsteps , and Each Day In Nine are examples of this development.

In the later years, especially since the 1986 album Certain Things Are Likely , the sound of the band changed significantly in the direction of soul, funk and dance (as in the title One Step on Certain Things Are Likely ). Danceable sounds, dominated by dance basses and beats, melodic keyboards and soulful vocals now shaped the music of Kissing the Pink. Even head voices like in Never Too Late to Love You were used. The tendency to groove was finally clearly strengthened on the last regular album Sugarland : The title Capsized is an example of the mixture of house, psychedelia, pop and dance realized here.

Discography

Studio albums

  • 1983: Naked
  • 1984: What Noise?
  • 1986: Certain Things Are Likely
  • 1993: Sugarland

Singles

  • 1981: Don't Hide in the Shadows
  • 1982: Mr. Blunt
  • 1982: Watching Their Eyes
  • 1983: The Last Film
  • 1983: Love Lasts Forever
  • 1983: Maybe This Day
  • 1983: Big Man Restless
  • 1984: Radio On
  • 1984: The Other Side of Heaven
  • 1985: One Step
  • 1986: Certain Things Are Likely
  • 1986: Never Too Late to Love You
  • 1988: Stand Up
  • 1993: Big Man Restless Remixes
  • 1993: Dalai Lama Loves You All

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Unofficial Kissing the Pink website (interview) , accessed February 23, 2015
  2. ^ Unofficial Kissing the Pink website (history) , accessed February 23, 2015
  3. ↑ www.officialcharts.com , accessed February 27, 2015
  4. ↑ Billboard Dance Club Charts May 1987 , accessed February 23, 2015
  5. ^ Nick Whitecross website , accessed February 23, 2015
  6. ^ Unofficial Kissing the Pink website (News) , accessed February 23, 2015