You spin me round (like a record) - Dead or Alive - 1985

Dead or Alive

You spin me round (like a record)

Dead or Alive

Fonte: rockol.it

I Dead or Alive si formano a Liverpool nel 1980 dall’incontro tra Pete Burns, Marty Healey, Sue James e Joe Musker. Il gruppo debutta nello stesso anno con il brano "I'm falling", seguito da "Number eleven" . Nel 1984 viene pubblicato "That's the way (I like It)" – cover 

di KC and the Sunshine Band – che diventa il più grosso successo del gruppo, almeno fino a quel momento. Sempre nell’84 esce SOPHISTICATED BOOM BOOM, a cui seguono prima il brano "You spin me round (like a record)" e poi YOUTHQUAKE (1985). Nel 1987 

è la volta di MAD, BAD AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW, disco che si rivela un flop. Vengono poi realizzati NUDE (1989), FAN THE FLAME (1995) e NUKLEOPATRA (2000). Nello stesso anno esce FRAGILE, una compilation che comprende una serie di cover. Nel 2001 

esce UNBREAKABLE, un secondo album remix, seguito da EVOLUTION: THE HITS (2003).

Nel 2004, Burns ritorna al successo con il brano – prodotto dai Pet Shop Boys - "Jack and Jill party". (20 apr 2009)

Source: Wikipedia

Dead or Alive were a British new wave band from Liverpool, England. The group found success in the 1980s and had seven Top 40 UK singles and three Top 30 UK albums. They 

were the first group to have a number one single under the production team

of Stock Aitken Waterman. Dead or Alive, which has variously included Pete Burns (vocalist), Wayne Hussey (guitarist),

Mike Percy (bassist), Steve Coy (drummer), Timothy Lever (various instruments), have released seven studio albums and five

compilation albums, and became popular in Japan.

Two of the group's singles reached the U.S. Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100; "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" No. 11 in 1985, and "Brand New Lover" No. 15 in 1986. "You Spin 

Me Round" charted in 1985 in the UK, then again in 2003 and 2006 following Burns' appearance on the television reality show Celebrity Big Brother. The latter also became the first of two singles to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

In 1977, Burns formed a band with friends Julian Cope, Pete Wylie, and Phil Hurst, calling themselves The Mystery Girls.

They played only one gig (opening for Sham 69 at Eric's in Liverpool in November 1977) before disintegrating.[2] Burns returned in 1979 with a new band, Nightmares in Wax, featuring a gothic post-punk sound, with backing from Hurst,keyboardist Martin Healy, 

bassist Walter Ogden, and guitarist Mick Reid.[2] Nightmares in Wax played their first gig at

Eric's in February 1979,[3] and were signed to the associated Eric's Records label, although their only recording, a three-track 7" EP entitled Birth of a Nation, was released in 1980 by 

Inevitable Records (a 12-inch single featuring two of the tracks from the EP, "Black Leather" and "Shangri-La", was released in 1985).[4] The EP featured "Black Leather",

which halfway through turned into K.C. & the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)" (a song later revived by Dead or Alive).

Dead or Alive was formed in 1980 in Liverpool by Burns, who was encouraged by local music promoters to gather a band together based on his outrageous appearance. In 1980, after several line-up changes since  the start of the year, and just before they were to 

record a radio session for John Peel, Burns changed the name of the band to Dead or Alive. The band went through several different line-up changes over the next three years 

while recording a series of independent singles. Burns' eccentric and androgynous appearance began attracting attention, often leading to comparisons with Culture Club and its lead singer Boy George.

Dead or Alive's singles started charting on the smaller UK Indie Chart, beginning with 1982's "The Stranger" reaching No. 7 on that chart.[5] This prompted major label Epic Records to sign the band in 1983. Their first release for Epic was the

single "Misty Circles", which appeared at No. 100 on the major UK Singles Chart in 1983. At this point, the band was a five-piece consisting of Burns, Mike Percy (bass), Tim Lever 

(keyboards/sax), Steve Coy (drums), and Wayne Hussey (guitar). Two more singles, "What I Want" and "I'd Do Anything", attracted club play, but mainstream success continued to

elude the band.

Dead Or Alive's debut album, Sophisticated Boom Boom, was released in May 1984 and featured their first Top 40 UK single, "That's the Way (I Like It)", a remake of the 1975 hit by 

KC and the Sunshine Band. Hussey departed Dead or Alive just before the album's release, despite having had a hand in writing much of the material that appears on it. The single peaked at No. 22 in the UK and the album at No 29.

Now a four-piece following the departure of Hussey, in May 1985 the band released its second album Youthquake (US No. 31, UK No. 9), produced by the then-fledgling songwriting/production team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman known

as Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). The single You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)[7] went to number one on the UK singles chart after having lingered outside the Top 40 for over two months (the song was SAW's first chart-topping single). The

song also hit No. 11 in the US and No. 1 in Canada.[9] Other album tracks released as singles included "Lover Come Back To Me", "In Too Deep", and "My Heart Goes Bang". Although none of these additional singles became US hits, they all reached

the UK Top 30.

In late 1986, Dead or Alive released their third album, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know (US No. 52, UK No. 27), also produced by SAW. The lead single "Brand New Lover" became a modest UK hit, peaking at No. 31, but was more successful in the US where it 

reached No. 15 on the US Hot 100, and number one on the US Billboard dance chart.[9] Three more singles from the album were released, although none saw any notable US success on the pop charts. All of these singles caused some sort of controversy in the UK. 

The most successful in the UK was "Something in My House" (UK No. 12), tonally Gothic and with a sleeve depicting Burns in front of what appears to be a Satanic altar, featuring an inverted crucifix. A 12" version of the song, the 'Mortevicar Mix', featured sampling of 

dialogue from the soundtrack of The Exorcist and a sampling from the George A. Romero American movie trailer from his film Day of the Dead (1985) and other 80's horror

films. A third single, "Hooked on Love", failed to make the UK Top 40 and had a "Gothic" 

overtone that had been added in a post-production remix. The picture sleeve to the fourth single, "I'll Save You All My Kisses", originally featured Burns with a metal "Sex" belt buckle in front of his lips, but Epic covered up the word "Sex" with a sticker that said "Kiss"

after retailers objected.[citation needed] The video was banned by MTV because of its suggestively homosexual content, [citation needed] which depicted Burns in black tights 

and a leather jacket singing the song from a baseball diamond while a number of men clung to a fence and ogled him, with one tearing off his shirt towards the end. Despite this, the band continued to have more success across Europe, and particularly, Japan.

After the release of the album, Tim Lever and Mike Percy left the band to form careers as mixers and producers. The pair currently own and operate Steelworks Studios in Sheffield, UK.[10] As mixers and producers, Lever and Percy experienced success writing and mixing 

songs for acts like S Club 7, Blue, and Robbie Williams. In 1987, they released their mega

greatest hits album Rip It Up, and a concert tour of the same name. It was said on Japanese television that Michael Jackson and Madonna had to reschedule their shows to 

accommodate the band.[citation needed] In 1989, Dead or Alive, now pared down to just a duo of Burns and Coy, released the self-produced Nude, which featured the single "Turn Around and Count 2 Ten". "Turn Around" was the band's biggest hit in Japan.[citation 

needed] It was followed by "Come Home with Me Baby". The single was a US club hit, including number one on the US dance charts,[9] but it failed to generate significant

radio play, partially due to a reactionary attitude toward the song's seemingly casual attitude toward sex at a time when AIDS awareness was strongly engrained in the public consciousness.