BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985
“19” is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle (1985).
The song has a strong anti-war message, focusing on America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. The track was notable for early use of sampled and processed speech, in particular a stutter effect used on the words “n-n-n-n-nineteen” and “d-d-d-d-destruction”. It also includes various non-speech samples such as crowd noise and a military bugle call.
“19” features sampled narration (by Peter Thomas), interview dialogue (“I wasn’t really sure what was going on”) and news reports from Vietnam Requiem, an ABC television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by veterans. In 2009, the song placed at 73 on VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s.
“19” topped the charts in the UK for 5 weeks, and reached the top 20 in the US, where it also topped the dance chart. For a while, it was the top selling single in 13 countries (helped by the fact that versions of the song were recorded in French, Spanish, German and Japanese), and it received the Ivor Novello award for Best-selling single of 1985. The song’s English language release came in 3 different 12″ versions (“Extended Version”, “Destruction Mix” and “The Final Story”), each with an alternative cover design.
SIDE A:
19 (Extended Version) 5:14
19 (Extended Japanese Mix) 5:12
Narrator – Kango Kobayashi
SIDE B:
19 (Destruction Mix) 7:07
19 (The Final Story) 8:31
King Tut (U.S. Remix) 5:22
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI: Near Mint
Insert: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #15 |
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play | #1 |
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | #1 |
| 1985 | 19 | U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles | #8 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Chrysalis – WWS-63050
Series: British Invasion ’85 –
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: Japan
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro
CREDITS:
Producer – Paul Hardcastle
Translated By – Landy Takeuchi
Written-By – J. McCord* (tracks: A1 to B2), M. Oldfield* (tracks: A1 to B2), P. Hardcastle*, W. Coutourie* (tracks: A1 to B2)
NOTES:
In World War Two The Average Age Of The Combat Soldier Was 26. In Vietnam He Was 19
Find the 12″ on DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Hi there,
is there a chance to reshare this gem?
Thx. a lot in advance,
scusa DjPaulT avrei una richiesta importante da farti non è che avresti questo disco
David Cassidy – Romance (Let Your Heart Go) – Special Edition Remix – Sanny X se tu lo postassi tene sarei grato per l’eternità grazie infinite
grazie DjPaulT per il grande l’avoro che fai grazie al tuo sapiente l’avoro ho molte song di cui non avrei mai trovato qui’ da me in italia grazie grazie grazie
Thank you very much Paul
Thank you for share, Paul.
If you ever find the german version it would be soooo great if you post them here!
Thanks for everything!
Rainforest UK 12″ Paul, please!!!!
Yes, one of the signature tracks of the 80s, always on my playlist, just as all Electro-Funk stuff. Always preferred the Extended Version. The Japanese Mix is a disappointment, because the narrator sucks big time! Shame Paul couldn’t find a Samurai with a cool voice. 🙂
Hi Paul, OMG … thank you so much for this gem!!!
Downloading the big rar I got a crazy idea of mashing up a ’20-ish swing version of Eurythmics’ Sexcrime…
Must be the tramadol…
Thanks (again) for the music, Paul.
Peace ^_^
Good Morning Paul, So happy that things seem to be back in order. I was so concerned for you because I noticed that the error message came up on other downloads too. Thankfully, things do appear to be back to normal. I haven’t yet downloaded the song, I will do so later on today after work. Thanks Paul for working the kinks out. Oh, and thanks again for restoring “The Asylum (It’s Weird)” back on the site. I was sad that it was gone, but NKelly deserves praise for pointing that out. Oh and Paul, I have to say AGAIN!… Read more »
Thank you so much Jeff. Yesterday was a bit of a bummer my hosting company are the ones who caused all the problems. I called them for one little issue and the agent went into my site and deleted a bunch of code causing the site wide outage. Jeremy had to spend most of the night getting me back on line because they could not figure it out. It is still not all the way fixed the username and password function is broken and we cannot get it to work so I may have to hire someone that knows about… Read more »
Thanks Jeff i can only presume that Paul overlooked the fact that ‘The Asylum’ was on the US 12 and i’m now glad that i mentioned it. Still, personally i think it’s best to keep everything on the site i find it a real shame that a lot of rips that Paul maybe wasn’t happy about in more recent years have been taken down without any replacements. There are many rips on my hard drive back in the days where i didn’t use to take the FLACS only the MP3’s so i am now stuck with the inferior MP3’s!
It also samples from Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells,” which most of us recognize as the theme to The Exorcist. Nice! Thank you, Paul! This hit on many levels 🙂
I did not know that thanks Brad 🙂
It’s not a sample, as such – the story goes that Mike Oldfield (or more likely the publishing department at Virgin Records) heard the the little keyboard hook and it was decided that it bore too much of a resemblance to the main melody of the Tubular Bells finale on Side 1 of said album to be a coincidence. It wasn’t intentional, but Mr Oldfield now has a writing credit, and his exceedingly small share of the royalties apparently goes to Vietnam veterans…
No i just listened it has The asylum (It’s weird) which is a great track. I’ve just played it!
Just restored It so it’s back on the site. I am having trouble with the site so pleas be patient. Thanks
Yes i noticed mate. No problem. Looking forward to the Japanese one. Unfortunately kids have gone to bed and i can’t play loud. Will do tomorrow if things are sorted before then. Many thanks!
I note that you have posted 19 (US 12″) only as recently as November 2013 but it’s no longer here which is a real shame. I always thought this site keeps all old downloads unless really old and a bad rip that you are unhappy with. It seems great practice for new visiters and gives them a plethea of awesome 12 inches to savour but also serves us in that awful scenario of a major hard drive failure which is painful enough. I think as i haven’t burnt anything that i downloaded for around 2 years i will go through… Read more »
I removed it because this Japan 12″ had the same tracks plus more with better sound.
No i just listened it has The asylum (It’s weird) which is a great track. I’ve just played it!
Rather than create loads of separate comments i thought i’d mention what a wonderful post this is right here… Many thanks Paul, for this gem. Although this is far from the full story (no pun intended) this is the best single 12″ of 19 that you could’ve posted. It’s a pity that it doesn’t cover the three UK b sides but what it does include is those all important three 12″ versions of 19 that appeared on no less than three UK 12″ singles. Best of all that Japanese version in a perfect rip. Many thanks again and well done!
Thanks Paul, for one of the defining tracks of the 80s
You’re welcome Martjin 🙂
For those who don’t know the significance of the name “19”, it was the average age of the American combat troops that fought in Vietnam. Just more useless trivia tossed your way.
I get
ERROR 500 – INTERNAL SERVER ERROR
when trying to download
for all formats
me too.
I am aware of and on the phone trying to get it fixed. Please keep trying. Thanks
sorted, thanks
Thanks, Paul!
Thanks Paul for putting some Hardcastle on. There’s so much of his 80s stuff that needs to be re-issued. I bet there’s a lot of remixes of singles out there.
You’re welcome Omar 🙂
I thought he re-released every mix on that anniversary edition he put out last year:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/19-Paul-Hardcastle/dp/B00W4NA1FU
…but it seems none of these Japanese mixes are on there, unless they are under different names??
(Be warned it has the worst and most unsuitable cover art for this song imaginable. It looks like a frikkin birthday card.)
That is so funny I needed a laugh this morning. Thank you Jermajesty 🙂
I have the CD and even suggested to Paul that he released a CD with every mix on (around 2011) which he replied positively. Quite famously this CD from 2015 does not have every mix of 19 for many reasons. For a start it would need to be around 3 CD’s to fit them all. 19 (84 demo) (85 mixes) 19 (95) not to mention all the mixes from the last 6 years!!
Paul, you’re always the one to pick the perfect song having to do with some holiday. And in this case, Memorial Day. Such a perfect record that still is relevant concerning war and all those that are left dealing with the trauma of its aftermath. I’m looking forward to hearing these special versions too because some are new to me. You’re all about that perfect surprise, that’s for sure. And I’m loving the fact that “King Tut” is on here too as that’s one of my favorite Paul Hardcastle songs. Again, thank you for these gifts. And OH MY GOODNESS!!!… Read more »
Thanks so much Jeff. Please let me know if you have any issues getting the files 🙂