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[td]In a November 1981 interview for the ''[[Trouser Press]]'', Nelson described the difficulties he faced:[/td] [td]<blockquote>[/td]
[td]<blockquote>[/td] [td]EMI was being taken over, nobody was secure, and my management said, 'Hit singles; ignore that arty stuff.' I wrote 'Living in My Limousine' but I didn't like it; I thought it too much of a compromise. I took it to them and said, 'Here's the only commercial song you'll get.' They said it wasn't obvious enough, that it should be more banal. So I wrote 'Banal,' which is about using all these musical cliches and hating them. They were delighted: it sounded so commercial, but it had a subversive message. Unfortunately, when it came to being played on the radio... we were told programmers didn't like its air of cynicism.<ref name=trouser_nelson />[/td]
[td]EMI was being taken over, nobody was secure, and my management said, 'Hit singles; ignore that arty stuff.' I wrote 'Living in My Limousine' but I didn't like it; I thought it too much of a compromise. I took it to them and said, 'Here's the only commercial song you'll get.' They said it wasn't obvious enough, that it should be more banal. So I wrote 'Banal,' which is about using all these musical cliches and hating them. They were delighted: it sounded so commercial, but it had a subversive message. Unfortunately, when it came to being played on the radio{{nbsp}}... we were told programmers didn't like its air of cynicism.<ref name=trouser_nelson />[/td] [td]</blockquote>[/td]
[td]</blockquote>[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]In a contemporary review for ''[[Smash Hits]]'', music journalist and occasional presenter of ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]''<ref name=herald_hepworth>{{cite newspaper | newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] | title=David Bowie, U2 and the story of the Old Grey Whistle Test | last=Leadbetter | first=Russell | date=21 September 2023 | url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life...0.david-bowie-u2-story-old-grey-whistle-test/ | access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> [[David Hepworth]] wrote "Although this album was recorded two years ago, it's not remotely dated; the man's mating of guitar-based powerglide rock and unfussy disco-tinged rhythm has rarely been heard to better effect."<ref name=smashhits_rev /> Mark Total of ''[[Record Mirror]]'' believed that, when comparing Nelson's work to the transition from [[Be-Bop Deluxe]] to Nelson's [[Bill Nelson's Red Noise|Red Noise]], his solo efforts showed a more "distinct progression"; they also felt that, despite praise towards the instrumentation, the vocal delivery contributed to an overall "coldness" in the record, concluding "that it takes a great deal of time to get familiar with it."<ref name=recordmirror_rev />[/td]
[td]In a contemporary review for ''[[Smash Hits]]'', music journalist and occasional presenter of ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]''<ref name=herald_hepworth>{{cite newspaper | newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] | title=David Bowie, U2 and the story of the Old Grey Whistle Test | last=Leadbetter | first=Russell | date=21 September 2023 | url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life...0.david-bowie-u2-story-old-grey-whistle-test/ | access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> [[David Hepworth]] wrote "Although this album was recorded two years ago, it's not remotely dated; the man's mating of guitar-based powerglide rock and unfussy disco-tinged rhythm has rarely been heard to better effect."<ref name=smashhits_rev /> Mark Total of ''[[Record Mirror]]'' believed that, when comparing Nelson's work to the transition from [[Be-Bop Deluxe]] to Nelson's [[Bill Nelson's Red Noise|Red Noise]], his solo efforts showed a more "distinct progression"; they also felt that, despite praise towards the instrumentation, the vocal delivery contributed to an overall "coldness" in the record, concluding "that it takes a great deal of time to get familiar with it."<ref name=recordmirror_rev />[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]David Peschek of ''[[the Guardian]]'' felt that in retrospect, ''Quit Dreaming''... is the best of the Mercury trilogy, describing the album as "an extremely odd record,... a kind of manic, [[Brian Eno|Eno]]-esque meta-pop."<ref name=guardian_rev /> In the September 2025 issue of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', Terry Staunton called it "Commercial but subversive," comparing "its sly, arty rhythms" to the likes of [[Talking Heads]].<ref name=uncut_rev />[/td]
[td]David Peschek of ''[[the Guardian]]'' felt that in retrospect, ''Quit Dreaming''... is the best of the Mercury trilogy, describing the album as "an extremely odd record,{{nbsp}}... a kind of manic, [[Brian Eno|Eno]]-esque meta-pop."<ref name=guardian_rev /> In the September 2025 issue of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', Terry Staunton called it "Commercial but subversive," comparing "its sly, arty rhythms" to the likes of [[Talking Heads]].<ref name=uncut_rev />[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]== Legacy ==[/td]
[td]== Legacy ==[/td]
Continue reading...
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[td]In a November 1981 interview for the ''[[Trouser Press]]'', Nelson described the difficulties he faced:[/td]Revision as of 07:26, 4 September 2025
[/td][td]In a November 1981 interview for the ''[[Trouser Press]]'', Nelson described the difficulties he faced:[/td] [td]<blockquote>[/td]
[td]<blockquote>[/td] [td]EMI was being taken over, nobody was secure, and my management said, 'Hit singles; ignore that arty stuff.' I wrote 'Living in My Limousine' but I didn't like it; I thought it too much of a compromise. I took it to them and said, 'Here's the only commercial song you'll get.' They said it wasn't obvious enough, that it should be more banal. So I wrote 'Banal,' which is about using all these musical cliches and hating them. They were delighted: it sounded so commercial, but it had a subversive message. Unfortunately, when it came to being played on the radio... we were told programmers didn't like its air of cynicism.<ref name=trouser_nelson />[/td]
[td]EMI was being taken over, nobody was secure, and my management said, 'Hit singles; ignore that arty stuff.' I wrote 'Living in My Limousine' but I didn't like it; I thought it too much of a compromise. I took it to them and said, 'Here's the only commercial song you'll get.' They said it wasn't obvious enough, that it should be more banal. So I wrote 'Banal,' which is about using all these musical cliches and hating them. They were delighted: it sounded so commercial, but it had a subversive message. Unfortunately, when it came to being played on the radio{{nbsp}}... we were told programmers didn't like its air of cynicism.<ref name=trouser_nelson />[/td] [td]</blockquote>[/td]
[td]</blockquote>[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]In a contemporary review for ''[[Smash Hits]]'', music journalist and occasional presenter of ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]''<ref name=herald_hepworth>{{cite newspaper | newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] | title=David Bowie, U2 and the story of the Old Grey Whistle Test | last=Leadbetter | first=Russell | date=21 September 2023 | url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life...0.david-bowie-u2-story-old-grey-whistle-test/ | access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> [[David Hepworth]] wrote "Although this album was recorded two years ago, it's not remotely dated; the man's mating of guitar-based powerglide rock and unfussy disco-tinged rhythm has rarely been heard to better effect."<ref name=smashhits_rev /> Mark Total of ''[[Record Mirror]]'' believed that, when comparing Nelson's work to the transition from [[Be-Bop Deluxe]] to Nelson's [[Bill Nelson's Red Noise|Red Noise]], his solo efforts showed a more "distinct progression"; they also felt that, despite praise towards the instrumentation, the vocal delivery contributed to an overall "coldness" in the record, concluding "that it takes a great deal of time to get familiar with it."<ref name=recordmirror_rev />[/td]
[td]In a contemporary review for ''[[Smash Hits]]'', music journalist and occasional presenter of ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]''<ref name=herald_hepworth>{{cite newspaper | newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] | title=David Bowie, U2 and the story of the Old Grey Whistle Test | last=Leadbetter | first=Russell | date=21 September 2023 | url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life...0.david-bowie-u2-story-old-grey-whistle-test/ | access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> [[David Hepworth]] wrote "Although this album was recorded two years ago, it's not remotely dated; the man's mating of guitar-based powerglide rock and unfussy disco-tinged rhythm has rarely been heard to better effect."<ref name=smashhits_rev /> Mark Total of ''[[Record Mirror]]'' believed that, when comparing Nelson's work to the transition from [[Be-Bop Deluxe]] to Nelson's [[Bill Nelson's Red Noise|Red Noise]], his solo efforts showed a more "distinct progression"; they also felt that, despite praise towards the instrumentation, the vocal delivery contributed to an overall "coldness" in the record, concluding "that it takes a great deal of time to get familiar with it."<ref name=recordmirror_rev />[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]David Peschek of ''[[the Guardian]]'' felt that in retrospect, ''Quit Dreaming''... is the best of the Mercury trilogy, describing the album as "an extremely odd record,... a kind of manic, [[Brian Eno|Eno]]-esque meta-pop."<ref name=guardian_rev /> In the September 2025 issue of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', Terry Staunton called it "Commercial but subversive," comparing "its sly, arty rhythms" to the likes of [[Talking Heads]].<ref name=uncut_rev />[/td]
[td]David Peschek of ''[[the Guardian]]'' felt that in retrospect, ''Quit Dreaming''... is the best of the Mercury trilogy, describing the album as "an extremely odd record,{{nbsp}}... a kind of manic, [[Brian Eno|Eno]]-esque meta-pop."<ref name=guardian_rev /> In the September 2025 issue of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', Terry Staunton called it "Commercial but subversive," comparing "its sly, arty rhythms" to the likes of [[Talking Heads]].<ref name=uncut_rev />[/td] [td][/td]
[td][/td] [td]== Legacy ==[/td]
[td]== Legacy ==[/td]
Continue reading...
