BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984
“Tesla Girls” is a song by British band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released as the third single from their 1984 album, Junk Culture. It charted at #21 in the UK and Ireland, and #33 in the Netherlands. Although only moderately successful on the charts, it became one of the group’s biggest club hits.
Musician and writer Kim Wilde slammed “Tesla Girls” on release, calling it “inane and monotonous”. Critic Dave Thompson, in a retrospective review for AllMusic described the song as “electrifying”, adding: “The clever lyrics are almost as smart as the music pounding across this song. Cutting-edge scratch production drives the sound, slamming beats fuel the fire, and an irrepressible melody and ‘no, no, no’ chorus all conspire to turn ‘Tesla Girls’ anthemic, while the soaring synths set the blood pumping…a quintessential dance number.” Colleague Ned Raggett wrote: “‘Tesla Girls’ is easily the group’s high point when it comes to sheer sprightly pop…witty lines about science and romance [are] wedded to a great melody (prefaced by a brilliant, hyperactive intro).”
The single performed more poorly than expected mainly due to a lack of media coverage. Controversy surrounded the song’s video, which some in the media had slammed as ‘sexist’. In fact, the video, which was largely Andy McCluskey’s idea, was lampooning the style of American music videos the band was pressured into making by Virgin Records in the hope of breaking into the U.S. market. He believed that American music videos relied heavily on attractive young female models posing and preening in front of the camera. While few got the joke, a furor did develop. It was the last time Virgin Records interfered with the style of videos of the band’s singles.
The song featured in the 1985 film Weird Science.
SIDE A:
Tesla Girls (Specially Remixed Version) 5:03
SIDE B:
Tesla Girls (Instrumental Version) 4:43
Tesla Girls (Video Version) 3:26
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: A&M Records – SP-12120
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
Credits: Design – P/S/A*
Photography By – Trevor Key
Producer – Brian Tench, O.M.D.*
Written-By – O.M.D.*
NOTES:
Promotion Copy – Not For Sale
Original version appears on the A&M album “JUNK CULTURE”
Band name printed as ‘O.M.D.’ on the front cover and ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’ on the spine and labels.
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Speed Control: Pro-Ject Speed Box S
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 Removeal: ClickRepair (DeClick Level 3)
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
