Two Tribes
From Free net encyclopedia
| Two Tribes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image:Two Tribes single.jpg | ||
| Single by Frankie Goes To Hollywood | ||
| Released | 28 May, 1984 | |
| Recorded | 1983/1984 | |
| Genre | Dance, New Wave | |
| Record label | ZTT | |
| Cat. # | ZTAS 3 | |
| Producer | Trevor Horn | |
| Chart positions | 1 (UK) 41 (USA) | |
| Frankie chronology | ||
| Relax (1983) | Two Tribes (1984) | The Power Of Love (1984) |
Two Tribes is the title track of the second single by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records in May 1984. The song was later included on the album Welcome To The Pleasuredome.
The single was a phenomenal success in the UK, staying at the top of the singles chart for nine consecutive weeks, during which time the group's previous single "Relax" climbed back up the charts to number two.
The single was unable to repeat this success in the USA, where it would peak at number forty-one.
Contents |
Origins and context
Image:Warhol reagan vanheusen.jpg A version of "Two Tribes" was originally recorded for a BBC John Peel session in October 1982. The session version makes clear that the basic structure of the song, including its signature bass-line, percussion arrangement and idiosyncratic introductory and middle eight sections, were already intact prior to any involvement from ZTT or eventual producer Trevor Horn.
The song's title derives from the line "when two great warrior tribes go to war", from the film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (the line is also spoken by Holly Johnson at the beginning of the session version).
The single was released at the height of the cold war, when general fears about global nuclear warfare were at a peak. Although Johnson would attest in a 1984 radio interview that the "two tribes" of the song potentially represented any pair of warring adversaries (giving the examples of "cowboys and Indians or Captain Kirk and Klingons"), the song does contain the line "On the air American/I modelled shirts by Van Heusen", a clear reference to then US President Ronald Reagan, who had advertised for Phillips Van Heusen in 1953 (briefly reviving the association in the early 1980s), and whose first film had been titled Love Is On The Air.
Bass player Mark O'Toole also noted during a Smash Hits interview that the song's structural elements represented the contemporary stand-off between the USA (principally the funk bass-line) and the USSR (the stately minor-chord introduction).
To accentuate this inherent musical tension, Horn juxtaposed the driving funk/rock rhythm section with a dramatic formal string arrangement and plenty of orchestral stabs, a novel technique that Horn himself had pioneered the previous year in producing Yes's "Owner of a Lonely Heart".
ZTT aggressively marketed the single in terms of its topical political angle, promoting it with images of the group wearing American military garb in combat, as well as Soviet-style army uniforms set against an American urban backdrop.
The original cover art featured a Soviet mural of Lenin and images of Reagan and then UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The sleeve notes, attributed to ZTT's Paul Morley, dispassionately reported details of the relative nuclear arsenals of each superpower and the unknown power of "synergisms". The various mixes were subtitled in terms of the expected aftermath of nuclear conflict.
Original 1984 mixes
The title track featured actor Patrick Allen, who recreated his narration from the Protect and Survive public information films for the single's 12-inch mixes (the original Protect and Survive soundtracks were sampled for the 7-inch mixes.)
The 12-inch A- and B-sides also ostensibly featured voice parts by Reagan himself, as played by actor Chris Barrie.
The standard 7-inch mix featured a pop/radio-oriented production that dispensed with a section of the song's middle eight altogether. A significantly different guitar-driven "We Don't Want To Die" mix appeared, with complete middle eight, on the limited edition 7-inch picture disc.
The first 12-inch mix ("Annihilation") started with an air-raid siren, and unfolded as a groundbreaking extended deconstruction and reinvention of the basic track, including Allen's starkest advice about how to tag and dispose of family members should they die in the fallout shelter.
The "Carnage" mix was, by comparison, altogether more conventional, featuring enhanced string treatments, a percussive midpoint flurry of vocal samples (from Allen and the group's B-side interview), but broadly following the prevailing instrumental/vocal 12-inch structural paradigm. The eventual album version ("For The Victims Of Ravishment") would derive from the "Carnage" mix.
B-sides
The 7-inch featured "One February Friday", an interview between Morley and the group's three musicians ("The Lads"), O'Toole, Brian Nash and Peter Gill, over an otherwise untitled instrumental track.
The principal B-side to the original 12-inch single was a cover version of "War", which became the subject of an accomplished extended remix in its own right (subtitled "Hidden") on the single's third UK 12-inch release, where it was promoted as a double-A-side with "Carnage".
With the exception of this AA release, all 12-inch versions featured the following additional B-side tracks:
- A shortened version of the 7-inch B-side interview (without music)
- A largely instrumental version of "Two Tribes (We Don't Want To Die)" with faux-live overdub treatments (subtitled "Surrender")
- A sequence of Patrick Allen outtakes, known as "The Last Voice".
The UK cassette single featured a cut-together combination of "Surrender", "Carnage" and "Annihilation", plus Reagan snippets and interview sections not included on any other release.
Videos
The Godley & Creme-directed video depicted a wrestling match between Reagan and then Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko for the benefit of group members and an eagerly belligerent assembly of representatives from the world's nations, the event ultimately degenerating into complete global destruction.
A longer version of the video (musically based on the "Annihilation" mix, but with a unique middle section) included an introductory cut-up monologue by Richard Nixon ("No firm diplomacy... No peace for America and the world"), plus similar contributions from other world leaders, including Yasser Arafat and John F. Kennedy.
The soundtrack to the extended video was eventually released as "Two Tribes (Video Destructo)" on the German version of the Twelve Inches compilation, and (without samples) as the limited "Two Tribes (Hibakusha)" 12-inch release.
"Two Tribes" in pop culture
- The track was included in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
- The video was played several times at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco in an attempt to ridicule Ronald Reagan.
- The track was featured in the Comic Strip movie The Supergrass.
Track listing
All discographical information pertains to the original UK single release only. "Two Tribes" written by Gill/Johnson/O'Toole. "One February Friday" credited to Gill/Johnson/Morley/Nash/O'Toole/Paul Rutherford. Image:Twotribes 7inch picdisc.jpg
7" single (ZTAS 3)
- "Two Tribes (Cowboys And Indians)" (3:57)
- "One February Friday (Doctors And Nurses)" (4:55)
7" picture disc (P ZTAS 3)
- "Two Tribes (We Don't Want To Die)" (4:10)
- "One February Friday (Only Bullets Can Stop Them Now)" (4:55)
12" single (12 ZTAS 3)
- "Two Tribes (Annihilation)" (9:08)
- "War (Hide Yourself)" (Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield) — (4:12)
- "One February Friday" [abridged] (1:46)
- "Two Tribes (Surrender)" (3:46)
- ["The Last Voice"] (1:14)
2nd 12" single (X ZTAS 3)
- "Two Tribes (Carnage)" (7:54)
- "War (Hide Yourself)" (4:12)
- "One February Friday" [abridged] (1:46)
- "Two Tribes (Surrender)" (3:46)
- ["The Last Voice"] (1:14)
3rd 12" single (WARTZ 3)
- "War (Hidden)" (8:33)
- "Two Tribes (Carnage)" (7:54)
- "One February Friday" [abridged] (1:46)
4th 12" single (X ZIP 1)
- "Two Tribes (Hibakusha)" (6:38)
- "War (Hide Yourself)" (4:12)
- "One February Friday" [abridged] (1:46)
- "Two Tribes (Surrender)" (3:46)
- ["The Last Voice"] (1:14)
- Limited to 5000 copies.
Cassingle (CTIS 103)
- ["Have Sex With As Many Objects As Possible"] (1:04)
- "Two Tribes At Madison Square Garden" (3:11)
- "The Carnage / The Annihilation" (12:05)
- "One February Friday" (1:08)
- "War (Somewhere Between Hiding And Hidden)" [identical to "War (Hide Yourself)"] (4:12)
- "War Is Peace" (0:28)
- Titled "Two Tribes (Keep The Peace)".
Reissues
Since 1984, "Two Tribes" has been re-issued several times, generally involving third-party remixes bearing little relation to the original releases in terms of either song structure or overall ethos.