A Flock of Seagulls
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| A Flock of Seagulls | |
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 A Flock of Seagulls, 1983. L-R: Ali Score, Paul Reynolds, Mike Score, and Frank Maudsley.
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Liverpool, United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) | New wave, synthpop, electropop |
| Years active | 1979 – 1986 1989 – present |
| Label(s) | Cocteau, Jive, Arista (US), Quality (Canada), RCA |
| Members | |
| Mike Score Joe Rodríguez Pando Michael Brahm |
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| Former members | |
| Ali Score Frank Maudsley Paul Reynolds |
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A Flock of Seagulls (also known as Flock of Seagulls) are a British Grammy Award winning band originally formed by brothers Mike Score (keyboards, Vocals) and Ali Score (drums), with Frank Maudsley (bass) and Paul Reynolds (guitar). They became notable in the 1980s for their MTV video for the song "I Ran (So Far Away)".
Contents |
[edit] History
A Flock of Seagulls was started by Mike Score and his brother Ali in 1979 in Liverpool. Mike, who was previously a hairdresser, played keyboards, guitar, and vocals, Ali played drums and their friend Frank Maudsley played bass. The band took their name from a line in the song "Toiler on the Sea" by The Stranglers, which appears on their album Black and White.[1] The band added guitarist Willie Woo and Mark Edmondson joined briefly when Ali and Mike had a fall out with Ali re-joining when Mark took ill. They then began writing songs. Soon after Willie left allowing Paul Reynolds to join. They then started playing clubs, and soon enough, they got a contract.
Eventually, under the management of Tommy Crossan and Mick Rossi (Checkmount Limited), they began to release singles through Jive Records. The group released an EP and a couple of singles, 'Its Not Me Talking' and 'Telecommunication' on Bill Nelson's 'Cocteau' label; both tracks produced by Nelson. In 1982 the group's third single "I Ran (So Far Away)" became a worldwide hit, most notably reaching number 1 in Australia and the top 10 in the US. The parent album A Flock of Seagulls and another single "Space Age Love Song" were also successful. In late 1982 the band found major success in their home country with "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" (first single from their next album) which reached the top 10[2]. As it turned out, 1982 would prove to be the peak year of their commercial and critical success.
1983 saw the release of three singles to back their second album Listen. Each was only a minor success in the UK and abroad. The album bore a heavily processed electronic sound that was a break from the Duran Duran guitar and bass driven sound of their début. Faced with disappointment the group produced a third album in 1984 that leant closer to a guitar sound. "The More You Live, The More You Love" was The Story of a Young Heart's lead single. It was moderately successful, despite having production that recalled their breakout hit "I Ran". The album's other two singles - "Never Again (The Dancer)" and "Remember David" - didn't make any headway.
Faced with sliding sales and a loss of direction following the third album the group relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania minus Paul Reynolds. Eventually in 1985 the group released a new album; Dream Come True. Despite having a new sound based around the Fairlight Synthesizer the album was critically panned and a commercial failure. The remaining members fell out and A Flock Of Seagulls in its original incarnation disbanded. In promotion of Dream Come True, two videos - "Who's That Girl" and "Heartbeat Like a Drum" - were filmed in quick succession. These two videos were the last time the three remaining members were together in a recording or performance capacity until 2004.
In November 2003, the original line-up (Mike and Ali Score, Paul Reynolds and Frank Maudsley) reunited for a one-off performance on the VH1 series, Bands Reunited. In September 2004, they reformed again and played a small number of live shows in the United States, but broke up immediately afterward.
Maudsley returned to Liverpool and is now the owner of a newsagent in the City Centre, while Mike and Ali Score stayed in Philadelphia. The brothers then had a falling out that resulted in Mike Score remaining as the sole original member of the band and Ali going to Boston, where he played in a hard rock band and then worked for a computer company in Cambridge.
[edit] Post 1989 developments
Following the dissolution of the band in the wake of Dream Come True, Mike Score resurfaced in a series of new bands with changing line-ups. The band released two singles ("Magic" and "Burnin' Up") and one album (The Light at the End of the World) which achieved some success. The group made a cameo appearance in the 1999 movie The Suburbans, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Will Ferrell.
In 2003, A Flock of Seagulls performed for the unveiling of the Syracuse A-league football logo and team's name, Syracuse Salty Dogs, in Syracuse, New York. The band returned later that year for a performance at one of the Salty Dogs' games at Syracuse's P&C Stadium.
In November 2003, the original line-up (Mike and Ali Score, Paul Reynolds and Frank Maudsley) reunited for a one-off performance on the VH1 series, Bands Reunited. In September 2004, they reformed again and played a small number of live shows in the United States, but broke up immediately afterward. The reunion included performances at Nike Run Hit Wonder (L.A., not NYC), a series of 5000 and 10,000 metre road races, featuring popular one hit wonder bands (including Devo, General Public, and Tommy Tutone) playing along the race course.
Mike Score continues to tour under the band's name with a new line-up, but the other original members have retired from music. The band played a show at Classic Bowl in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
The band's 2005 lineup was Mike Score, lead singer, keyboards; Joe Rodriguez, lead guitarist; Pando bassist; and Michael Brahm, drums. In June 2005, the current line-up appeared on the debut episode of the American edition of NBC's Hit Me Baby One More Time. Besides performing their hit song I Ran (So Far Away), they also performed a cover of Ryan Cabrera's "On the Way Down".
In an interview on the VH1 special 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s, Mike Score said 'Everytime he performs live... Everyone just want's to hear 'I Ran', and goes on to say '...and I'm sick of it!'. Also that he resents the song, but plays it live because people enjoy it. "I Ran" was listed at #55 on the countdown. He said the same thing in VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s, and was listed at #2 on this countdown. Although it should be noted that the interview on 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s was the exact same one that was shown on 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s.
A Flock of Seagulls, with Mike Score's presence, performed in Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines on April 19, 2008 as part of "The Lost 80's Live in Manila" tour. Together with them are notable 80's groups Gene Loves Jezebel and Real Life (with David Sterry only). The concert is a success. The China Crisis held already a venue in Manila last December 2002, followed recently by some 80's/New Wave names.
[edit] Personnel
Classic line-up (1979 – 1984)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.K[3] | DEU[4] | SE | U.S[5] | ||
| 1981 | Modern Love Is Automatic EP
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– | – | – | – |
| 1982 | A Flock of Seagulls
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32 | 26 | 32 | 10 |
| 1983 | Listen
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16 | 14 | 44 | 16 |
| 1984 | The Story of a Young Heart
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30 | 31 | – | 67 |
| 1985 | Dream Come True
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– | – | – | – |
| 1995 | The Light at the End of the World
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– | – | – | – |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Chart Positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.K.[3] | U.K. Indie[6] | AUS | DEU[4] | IRL[7] | U.S[8] | ||||||
| Hot 100 | MSR | Dance Club Play | |||||||||
| 1981 | "(It's Not Me) Talking" | — | – | 45 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| "Telecommunication" | A Flock of Seagulls | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | ||
| 1982 | "I Ran (So Far Away)" | 43 | – | 1 | 31 | – | 9 | 3 | 8 | ||
| "Space Age Love Song" | 34 | – | – | – | – | 30 | 59 | – | |||
| "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" | Listen | 10 | – | – | 37 | 6 | 26 | 3 | 62 | ||
| 1983 | "(It's Not Me) Talking" (Cocteau Records re-issue) | — | – | 22 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| "Nightmares" | Listen | 53 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| "Transfer Affection" | 38 | – | – | – | 22 | – | – | – | |||
| "(It's Not Me) Talking" (Rerecording) | 78 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 1984 | "The More You Live, The More You Love" | The Story of a Young Heart | 26 | – | – | 37 | – | 56 | 10 | – | |
| "Never Again (The Dancer)" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| "Remember David" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 1985 | "Who's That Girl (She's Got It)" | Dream Come True | 66 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 1986 | "Heartbeat Like a Drum" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1989 | "Magic" | — | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 1995 | "Magic" (Re-issue) | The Light at the End of the World | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| "Burnin' Up" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 1996 | "Rainfall" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2000 | "Rainfall" (Re-issue) | — | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 2007 | "I Ran (So Far Away)" (A Flock Of Seagulls vs. The Angry Kids) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
[edit] Video
| Year | Title | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Through the Looking Glass
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VHS |
[edit] Hairstyle
Mike Score's distinctive hairstyle has been mentioned, copied, and parodied many times in the media:
- In the American television sitcoms Friends (by Chandler and Ross joined a new wave band during their college years)
- In That '70s Show.
- It was referred to, as a means of scoff, in Pulp Fiction.
- In the musical The Wedding Singer the character Sammy sings a line in the song "Saturday Night" referring to Mike Score's hair style: "Can't wait 'til chicks start flocking to my Flock of Seagulls hair".
- A Diet Pepsi commercial shows a man telling us that he wants to feel young again, then it shows a montage of the man with Score's hairstyle while the song "I Ran (So Far Away)" plays, but finding out it's a bad idea.
- In the song "Albuquerque" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, the song's main character encounters a hermaphrodite with a "Flock of Seagulls haircut" in which they both get involved in a violent scuffle for ownership of a "lucky, lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel."
- In a Supercuts commercial, a man enters a hair salon. After a few moments he notices that the only hairstyle given is Mike Score's famous haircut. (In the background, the sound of seagulls can be heard.)
- When Danny Pintauro came out of the closet, The Daily Show referred to his Flock of Seagulls haircut on Who's the Boss? as an indicator of his orientation.
- In the film The Wedding Singer, Adam Sandler's character approaches an airline ticket agent who is sporting a Mike Score hairstyle. The ticket agent says "Do you like Flock of Seagulls?" with Sandler's reply, "I can see you do."
- In an XM Satellite Radio TV commercial, the logo's wavelengths take different shapes; one of which is Mike Score's hairstyle as the guitar riff for "I Ran (So Far Away)" plays on the background.
- In the Larry the Cable Guy Christmas Special, Tony Orlando and Larry look at photographs of the past and sees a picture of Larry with Mike Score's hairstyle. Orlando says, "Look at that! The 80s!" Larry replies, "No, that was actually last year. I just like Flock of Seagulls."
- In an episode of Family Guy titled "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea", Peter can be seen with a haircut similar to Mike Score's in the beginning of the episode.
- In the swiffer commercial, an 80's DJ imitates the hairstyle.
[edit] Grammy Award
The album track, "D.N.A.", from A Flock of Seagulls, won a Grammy Award in 1983 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
[edit] References
- ^ Smith, Steve Bits and Pieces: the Penguin Book of Rock and Pop Facts and Trivia. Penguin, 1988 ISBN 0140107436
- ^ http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=10242
- ^ a b http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=3577
- ^ a b http://www.charts-surfer.de/
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=A|FLOCK|OF|SEAGULLS&sql=11:3ifixqe5ldje~T5
- ^ http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/a.htm
- ^ http://www.irishcharts.ie/
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=A|FLOCK|OF|SEAGULLS&sql=11:3ifixqe5ldje~T51
