Move (Your) Feet

With chart pop in the early 1990s overrun with identikit Euro-dance, I was spurred to record a parody of the things about it that amused or irritated me. And I honestly thought I’d nailed it. Lyrics like “Let the music set you free / Be as free as you can be” – this was utterly ridiculous and would immediately get laughed out of the room, right? But I singularly failed, measured by the number of people who listened to it thoughtfully and then said, “Yes, you’ve written a good pop song, but why have you got that dreadful rapping over the top of it?”

It turns out the genre is just too silly to successfully take the piss out of. I did, however, get some cheerful satisfaction from the fact that many years later, while on a temp job at a legal firm, I was asked to shred a pile of old files that included all the paperwork for the epitome of these songs, “Mr Vain” by Culture Beat.

A year later I was working full-time at the same firm (possibly without the requisite recruitment fee being paid to my temp agency) when the firm’s barrister came rushing in asking if I’d seen the paperwork for “Mr Vain” by Culture Beat. They were on the phone and were looking to do a 10-year anniversary re-release. I gather it had to be delayed.

So, anyway, the other day I came across a four-track cassette I had thought long lost, containing the vocal line kindly recorded for me by a girl at my school (although I forgot to get her to do the chorus, so thanks to kasku for stepping in there), and I figured my poorly recorded original was due a banging rework of its own.
NB: Also contains Intruda interview

Should you want to go to the actual page where this song is hosted, perhaps to leave abuse, it lives here.