Table of Contents

List of Plates
List of Figures
Permissions
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Mute Records
Richard Osborne and Zuleika Beaven

1. 'Let’s Make Love Before You Die': 'Warm Leatherette', Boredom, and the Invention of the 1980s
S. Alexander Reed, Ithaca College, USA
2. 'One Man’s Meat': Fad Gadget’s Social Commentary and Post-Punk
Giuseppe Zevolli, King’s College, UK
3. Fans of Faith and Devotion: Obsession, Nostalgia and Depeche Mode
Andy Pope, Independent Researcher
4. "Depeche Mode and Soft Cell": Redefining the Prologue of the Mute and Some Bizzare Record Labels
Leon Clowes, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
5. Throbbing Gristle’s Early Records: Post-Hippie/Pre-Punk/Post-Punk
John Encarnacao, Western Sydney University, Australia
6. 'Join That Troubled Chorus': Nick Cave, the Bad Seeds, and the Blues
Ross Cole, University of Cambridge, UK
7. Mark Stewart: 'Somewhere'
Eddie George, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
8. 'Sometimes, Always': Erasure, Mute and the Value of Independence
Brenda Kelly, Independent Researcher
9. Outside Mute? Ut, No Wave and Blast First
Ieuan Franklin, Bournemouth University, UK
10. The Mash-up of Aesthetics, Theory and Politics in Laibach's Meta-sound
Aténé Mendelyté, Lund University, Sweden
11. 'The Blessed Glow of Labour': Independence, Style and Process in the Music of Swans
Dean Lockwood, University of Lincoln, UK
12. Moby, Minstrelsy and Melville
Richard Osborne, Middlesex University, UK
13. 'Country Girl': Rural Feminism in the Performance of Alison Goldfrapp
Lucy O’Brien, University of the Creative Arts, UK
14. Twist: Goldfrapp’s Genre Perversion
Glyn Davis, University of Edinburgh, UK
15. Arca: Mute’s Mutant
Mark Waugh, Anglia University, UK
16. Composing in Circuitry: Sonic Artist Dirty Electronics
Lourdes N. Crosby García, Full Sail University, USA

Index

Promotional Information

The first book-length discussion of Mute Records, reflected through individually authored chapters that focus on key label signings, including Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Erasure, Moby and Goldfrapp.

About the Author

Zuleika Beaven is Senior Lecturer in Music Business and Arts Management at Middlesex University, UK. She is Programme Leader for the MA Arts Management, and teaches on the undergraduate popular music and music business degrees. Her research focuses on musician work and identity in the commercial space.

Marcus O’Dair is Associate Professor in Music and Innovation at Middlesex University. He is the author of Different Every Time (2014).

Richard Osborne is Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at Middlesex University, UK. Prior to becoming a lecturer he worked in record shops, held various posts at PRS for Music, and co-managed a pub. He is the author of Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record (2012).

Reviews

There is plenty here to enjoy ... Among the best chapters by far are those flowing out of the stories of feminism, gay activism and sheer theatricality.
*The Wire*

An important history of a highly significant British label, this deliciously wide-ranging collection considers an array of key artists approached from always stimulating perspectives: issues of production, promotion and reception in an emerging Depeche Mode, the meaning of noise in Throbbing Gristle’s industrial odyssey and the challenging photographic depictions of Alison Goldfrapp, to name only a few.
*Simon Warner, Visiting Research Fellow, Popular Music Studies, University of Leeds, UK, and author of Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack (Bloomsbury, 2018)*

This excellent and innovative collection demonstrates the value of making a record company the basis of investigation into the tangled relations between music, creativity, and business. It helps that the choice of company is one of the world’s most adventurous and fascinating record labels.
*David Hesmondhalgh, Professor of Media, Music and Culture, University of Leeds, UK, and author of Why Music Matters (2013)*

Mute Records is one of independent music’s most iconic labels, and with this book it finally gets the scholarly treatment it deserves. Mute Records: Artists, Business, History is a much-needed compendium that makes an important contribution to the industrial history of popular music studies.
*Devon Powers, Associate Professor of Advertising, Temple University, and author of Writing the Record: The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism (2013)*

A delight for fans and scholars, Mute Records explores some of the most exciting and influential music of the past four decades. A record label born in a bedroom, Mute mixed the weird and the danceable, the avant garde and the mainstream, and in the process became a cozy home for platinum hitmakers and obscurantists alike. While upholding staunchly indie principles, Mute pioneered an electronic roots music that stands as a foundation for much contemporary dance-pop. The collection offers smart and passionate analyses of stars like Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Moby and Goldfrapp alongside insightful essays on indie artists who helped shape the synthetic sound of our time. A model of interdisciplinary scholarship, the volume ranges across musicological, industrial, and sociological approaches, with particular attention to the radical gender and sexual politics of key artists. An example of popular music studies at its very best.
*Keir Keightley, Associate Professor of Popular Music and Culture, University of Western Ontario, Canada*