Also, the flame at the end was just a close up shot of a Bunsen burner. Remember, MTV wasn’t playing black artists that much at all yet, so there was a bit of a fuss about that. It wasn’t really a big deal in the UK, but in America, there was controversy over that. The black and white couple caused a bit of controversy at the time, but we didn’t even address that when we shot it. We weren’t on a major label, we were on 4AD at the time. It was all done for maybe $1000 on the cheap. We shot that at Tottenham Court Road, a studio there. What do you recall from shooting the video in 1982? He was a great producer in that era, and that was a strength he had. We just had what we’d call pieces, and he was instrumental in helping us to put it all together. Hugh helped us to understand things like verse and chorus. Also, when we were first writing songs, we didn’t know how to write songs. The humming part was producer Hugh Johns’ s idea. Was the humming section in the middle of “I Melt With You” your idea? I think that people generally are sick of The X Factor and The Voice and all that, and are ready for something real, rather than people who want their fame immediately, rather than working and touring for years and years like we have. We’re having some of the best shows of our career. Songs about love and what have you are in there, and about loneliness, I suppose.įrom the crowds you are playing to now, and seeing some of the other bands of the era on the road (Modern English and the Fixx play on the same bill later this month), do you see a resurgence of interest in seeing the bands from that era live? We’re writing songs right now for a new album down the road. Once, long ago, my guitar player came on stage without his guitar, and we haven’ t had anything like that, but we’ve come close a few times. We got together after our guitar player moved close to me a few years ago and I asked him if he’d like to start the band up again. We’ve got the original lineup back together now, and it’s great. It must be fun being on the road with the original lineup of Modern English. Grey filled us in on the legacy of “I Melt With You”, thirty years after its release, as well as recollections of shooting the video. We caught up with Robbie Grey, lead singer and songwriter for Modern English, as the original lineup continues its west coast summer tour before returning to the UK for five dates in September. The band even re-recorded the song twice – once in 1990, and a much heavier take for the 2011 Mark Pellington film of the same name (In an email, the filmmaker said of the band, “they were ego-less, great supportive mates”). As the years passed, the song burrowed its way into the pop culture frontal lobe by exposure in everything from Hershey’s Chocolate Bar commercials to the television revolution known as Glee. Modern English’s “I Melt With You” began its journey as a sweet ditty for romantic new wavers with a video in high rotation on MTV in 1982 and a featured soundtrack position in the 1983 teen rom-com VALLEY GIRL. Modern English in the I MELT WITH YOU videoĪ crash of strumming and the lyrics “moving forward, using all my breath” begin one of the most popular songs of the early MTV era, a song that ironically never broke the Billboard Top 40 in its initial release.
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