Sparks (band)

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Sparks
The Sparks at TopPop, 1974
The Sparks at TopPop , 1974
General information
origin Los Angeles , United States
Genre (s) Pop-Rock , New Wave , Glam Rock , Synth Pop , Post-Disco , Art-Rock
founding 1972
Website allsparks.com
Current occupation
Russell Mael
Ron Mael

The Sparks are an American rock and pop music band around the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, which was founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s . The band began with pop and glam rock , but developed beyond this framework and from the 1980s onwards also explored the fields of electronic dance music .

Band history

Keyboardist Ron Mael, 2015
Singer Russel Mael, 2015

Beginnings

Ron Mael (Ronald David Mael, born August 12, 1945 in Culver City , California ) received piano lessons as a child. The son of a graphic artist and librarian, he grew up in Pacific Palisades , Los Angeles . In the late 1960s he was a student at UCLA . Together with his younger brother Russell Mael (Russell Craig Mael, born October 5, 1948 in Santa Monica , California) he played in various bands before they founded the group Halfnelson with Earle Mankey (guitar) in 1969 , which later became the Sparks. Ron wrote the songs and played keyboards, Russell sang. Completed by Mankey's brother Jim (bass) and Harley A. Feinstein (drums) they released their debut album of the same name for Bearsville in 1971. The record was produced by Todd Rundgren . Musical influences were mainly English bands like The Kinks , The Move and the early Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett .

The album was not a great commercial success, not even when it was re-released after the name change to Sparks (based on the Marx Brothers) suggested by the record company . The single Wonder Girl was a local hit, but just as little as the second LP A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing (1972) brought the breakthrough. The standout piece on this record, Girl from Germany , is about the difficulty of introducing a German friend to parents.

Island Records

Sparks 1974

A European tour that they had led in 1972 through England (where they performed at the Marquee Club ), the Netherlands and Switzerland, made Island Records aware of the Sparks. In 1973 Ron and Russell moved to England, brought in new musicians (Norman 'Dinky' Diamond, Adrian Fisher, Martin Gordon ) and in early 1974 produced the record with Muff Winwood that many still consider to be their masterpiece: Kimono My House . The album contained two of their best known and most successful tracks, the number 2 hit This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us and its follow -up single Amateur Hour .

The English music magazine Sounds said: “Sparks got the musical extravagance of Wizzard , the sophisticated feel of Roxy and the menacing power of the Third Reich .” The NME spoke of “Instant Classic”. The only constant in the articles in the music press, however, was always the inevitable reference to Ron's "Hitler" mustache. However, according to his own statements, he only wore it after the model of Charlie Chaplin .

Propaganda followed in the same year, a production very similar to the previous album, which again contained some hit singles, including Something for the Girl with Everything and Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth .

At the time, Sparks were classified as glam rock , as was T. Rex , with whom they were sometimes compared.

For Indiscreet (1975), the Sparks enlisted the help of David Bowie producer Tony Visconti . This album can be considered the most mature of the Icelandic years. However, it did not contain any comparable hit songs and the mix of styles (including swing and big band ) disturbed some of the early fans.

America

In 1976 the Maels returned to America, where, again with new musicians, they tried to achieve a breakthrough. However, both the next album Big Beat and the next, ironically called Introducing Sparks , fell far short of expectations. On their homepage this record is referred to as "uneasy cross between" The Beach Boys and Randy Newman . However, the pieces, which can almost be heard as beach boys parodies , have a very special charm. In the disaster film Rollercoaster (orig. Roller Coaster ) of 1976, they are as a live band at the opening of a theme park with the song Big Boy to see.

The next turning point came through the collaboration with Giorgio Moroder , who had just led Donna Summer to success. The result was No 1 in Heaven in 1979 , which meant a complete change of style and gave them a completely new audience, especially with the title track and the single Beat the Clock . In the following years they released (partly supported by Marc Moulin ) a number of albums that were mainly successful in France, where they had one of their greatest hits in 1980 with When I'm With You .

comeback

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In 1994, after a six-year hiatus, Sparks released Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (a play on words: gratuitous sex & senseless violence), which in turn made a striking change in style. Clear melodies and Russell's voice came to the fore again, partly underlaid with techno beats. In Germany, the single When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way' became a surprise hit thanks to MTV . After this brief success, Sparks released the album Plagiarism , on which they presented their greatest hits in partly completely new arrangements. The success of the follow-up album Balls was largely lacking. It was only with the release of Lil 'Beethoven and then Hello Young Lovers that they were again able to celebrate success with both critics and audiences. The first published single Metaphor from the album Hello Young Lovers was named "Single of the Year" in the German Rolling Stone .

On the occasion of the 21st studio album Exotic Creatures of the Deep , Sparks performed all of their albums live in London in May and June 2008.

In August 2009, a new radio musical by Sparks entitled "The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman " was performed on Swedish Radio . It is about the director's fictional stay in America.

In March 2013 Sparks released their first live album: "Two Hands, One Mouth: Live In Europe".

In March 2015 Sparks founded the group FFS together with the British band Franz Ferdinand .

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1974 Kimono My House - - - UK4th
gold
gold

(24 weeks)UK 		US101 (14 weeks)
US
First published: May 1974
propaganda DE49 (4 weeks)
DE 		- - UK9
silver
silver

(13 weeks)UK 		US63 (13 weeks)
US
First published: November 1974
1975 Indiscreet - - - UK18 (4 weeks)
UK 		US169 (6 weeks)
US
First published: October 1975
1979 No. 1 in Heaven - - - UK73 (1 week)
UK 		-
First published: September 1979
1981 Whomp that sucker - - - - US182 (2 weeks)
US
First published: July 1981
1982 Fear in my pants - - - - US173 (6 weeks)
US
First published: April 1982
1983 In outer space - - - - US88 (17 weeks)
US
First published: April 1983
1994 Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins DE29 (14 weeks)
DE 		- - - -
First published: November 1994
2006 Hello Young Lovers - - - UK66 (1 week)
UK 		-
First published: February 2006
2008 Exotic Creatures of the Deep - - - UK54 (1 week)
UK 		-
First published: May 2008
2015 FFS
with Franz Ferdinand as FFS 		DE22 (2 weeks)
DE 		AT36 (1 week)
AT 		CH19 (3 weeks)
CH 		UK17 (5 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: June 8, 2015
2017 Hippopotamus DE88 (1 week)
DE 		- - UK7 (3 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: September 8, 2017
2020 A steady drip, drip, drip DE24 (1 week)
DE 		AT29 (1 week)
AT 		CH25 (1 week)
CH 		UK7 (1 week)
UK 		US75 (1 week)
US
First published: July 3, 2020

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

  • 1971: Sparks / Halfnelson
  • 1972: A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing
  • 1976: Big Beat
  • 1977: Introducing Sparks
  • 1979: The Best of
  • 1980: Terminal Jive
  • 1981: The History of
  • 1984: Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat
  • 1986: Music That You Can Dance To
  • 1988: Interior Design
  • 1990: Mael Intuition: The Best of 1974-76
  • 1991: Profile: The Ultimate Sparks Collection
  • 1993: The Hell Collection
  • 1993: In the Swing
  • 1996: The 12 Inch Mixes
  • 1997: Plagiarism
  • 1999: 12 ″ mixes
  • 2000: Balls
  • 2002: Lil 'Beethoven
  • 2002: This Album's Big Enough… The Best Of
  • 2009: The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1974 This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
Kimono My House 		DE12 (12 weeks)
DE 		CH7 (7 weeks)
CH 		UK2
silver
silver

(10 weeks)UK 		-
First published: April 1974
Amateur Hour
Kimono My House 		DE12 (11 weeks)
DE 		- UK7 (9 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: July 1974
Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth
Propaganda 		DE40 (1 week)
DE 		- UK13 (7 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: October 1974
1975 Something for the Girl with Everything
Propaganda 		- - UK17 (7 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: January 1975
Get in the Swing
Indiscreet 		- - UK27 (7 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: July 1975
Looks, looks, looks
indiscreet 		- - UK26 (4 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: October 1975
1979 The Number One Song in Heaven
No. 1 in Heaven 		- - UK14 (13 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: April 1979
Beat the Clock
No. 1 in Heaven 		- - UK10 (9 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: July 1979
Tryouts for the Human Race
No. 1 in Heaven 		- - UK45 (5 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: October 1979
1982 I Predict
Fear in My Pants 		- - - US60 (7 weeks)
US
First published: April 1982
1983 Cool Places
In Outer Space / The Very Best Of 		- - - US49 (12 weeks)
US
First published: April 1983
with Jane Wiedlin
1994 When Do I Get to Sing "My Way"
Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins 		DE7th
gold
gold

(26 weeks)DE 		CH22 (9 weeks)
CH 		UK32 (5 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: October 1994
1995 When I Kiss You (I Hear Charlie Parker)
Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins 		DE61 (10 weeks)
DE 		- UK36 (2 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: March 1995
Now That I Own the BBC
Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins 		DE81 (8 weeks)
DE 		- UK60 (2 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: November 1995
1997 This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
Plagiarism 		- - UK40 (2 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: November 1997
vs. Faith No More
2006 Perfume
Hello Young Lovers 		- - UK80 (1 week)
UK 		-
First published: February 2006

swell

  1. ^ New Musical Express, May 18, 1974
  2. ^ Franz Ferdinand and Sparks Form Supergroup FFS. In: Pitchfork . March 9, 2015, accessed February 13, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  4. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
  5. ↑ Awards: DE UK [1]

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