MOJO
EYEWITNESS
ABC COMPILE THE LEXICON OF LOVE
Evolving from Sheffield’s post-punk synth-raincoat milieu, ABC felt anointed by Chic to make the definitive early-’80s album of hyper-gloss smart pop. Produced by sonic visionary Trevor Horn, they soon won big hits and a visit from Bowie in ’82, but within barely a year the grandeur was over, marked by the mythic flushing of singer Martin Fry’s gold lamé suit down a Japanese toilet. Likening it to “Bob Dylan but in a disco,” members and collaborators recall The Lexicon Of Love’s creation. “Sit down, the show is about to start. You will be entertained!”
Interviews by IAN HARRISON
Gered Mankowitz/Iconic Images
Martin Fry: I was one of those guys who daydreamed about being in bands for many years. I was plucking up the courage to get out there. I had a fanzine, Modern Drugs, and I met Mark White and Steve Singleton of Vice Versa and interviewed them up in Sheffield. They had an EP that John Peel was playing and they invited me to join.
Stephen Singleton: In Vice Versa we chose to work with electronics because it felt interesting and modern. Me and Mark had seen Chic play at the Sheffield City Hall [on September 30, 1979] and we were dancing at the front of the stage and Nile Rodgers said, “Look at these two guys, they know what Chic’s all about.” He came up and shook our hands – we were touched by the hand of Chic! So then we thought, God, imagine being in a band like that – let’s do a different project.
We’d found out that Martin could sing when Vice Versa went to Rotterdam in 1980. He was coming out with great stuff off the top of his head. Mark was the singer in Vice Versa and he said, “I’ll step aside, let Martin be the vocalist.” I don’t think many other singers would do that, but Mark was über-cool as a person.
Mark White: The discos I used to go to, you’d hear the pop greats – Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Marc Bolan – alongside the great Motown records and Chic. What we were trying to do was mix those two things together and have a song which was full of melody and had a witty, incisive lyric, but was allied to an incredible dance beat.