1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)

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1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
Eurythmics 1984.jpg
Soundtrack album by
Eurythmics
Released12 November 1984 (1984-11-12)
RecordedAugust 1984
Genre
Length39:03
LabelVirgin
ProducerDavid A. Stewart
Eurythmics chronology
Touch Dance
(1984) 		1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
(1984) 		Be Yourself Tonight
(1985)
Singles from 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
  1. "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)"
    Released: 22 October 1984
  2. "Julia"
    Released: January 1985
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic2/5 stars[1]
Smash Hits9/10[2]

1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) is a soundtrack album by British pop duo Eurythmics. It was released on 12 November 1984 by Virgin Records and contains music recorded by the duo for the 1984 film Nineteen Eighty-Four, based on George Orwell's dystopian novel of the same name. Virgin Films produced the film for release in its namesake year, and commissioned Eurythmics to write a soundtrack.

Background[]

Recording[]

Lennox and Stewart worked as a duo for these recordings, with no contribution from other musicians. The music, while containing many electronic elements, was far from being synth-pop; Stewart described some tracks as "Kraftwerk meets African tribal meets Booker T and the MGs."

Unknown to the group, Michael Radford, the film's director, had commissioned his own orchestral score and was not fond of Eurythmics' work. Two versions of the film were released, one featuring Eurythmics' music, and the "director's cut", which replaced most of Eurythmics' music by the orchestral score. When accepting an award for the film, Radford publicly complained of having Eurythmics' music "foisted" on him. Eurythmics issued a statement saying that they had accepted Virgin's commission in good faith, and would never have done so if they had known that it was not being done with the director's approval.

Musical concept[]

Most of the tracks are instrumental, with song titles and lyrics of two songs on the album being derived from Orwell's text. For instance, "I Did It Just The Same" is taken from a passage in the book where the protagonist, Winston Smith, relates how he committed "sexcrime" with a prostitute—initially deceived by her makeup, when he got close to her, he realised she was "about fifty—but I did it just the same". "Julia" was the name of Winston's lover. "Sexcrime" and "Doubleplusgood" are examples of Newspeak, the revised version of the English language spoken in Orwell's story. The track "Doubleplusgood" features a female announcer—the voice of the omnipresent Telescreen in the movie—reading out various memos which Winston had received at his job in the Ministry of Truth, where his role was to amend past and present newspaper articles so that they conformed to current Party dogma. The "Ministry of Love" was the government police and torture department, and included "Room 101", a room which contained "the worst thing in the world"—i.e. where each torture victim would be confronted with their own worst nightmare.

Release[]

The album was released by Virgin Records in the UK and RCA Records in the US. Two singles were released from the album, "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)" and "Julia". The former was a top-10 entry in most territories, while "Julia" achieved little commercial success and broke the duo's run of six consecutive top-10 singles in the UK when it peaked at number 44. Promotional videos were produced for both singles.

One US LP release had an additional sticker that stated "Censored by the thought police" (although the music was the same).

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart. The album credits have the order flipped on tracks 2, 4, 6 and 8, which are listed as "Stewart/Lennox".

No.TitleLength
1."I Did It Just the Same"3:28
2."Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)"3:58
3."For the Love of Big Brother"5:05
4."Winston's Diary"1:22
5."Greetings from a Dead Man"6:13
6."Julia"6:40
7."Doubleplusgood"4:40
8."Ministry of Love"3:47
9."Room 101"3:50

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother).[3]

  • David A. Stewart – production, mixing
  • Eric "ET" Thorngren – engineering, mixing
  • Sean Burrows – engineering assistance
  • Steven Stanley – early recording engineering (tracks 2, 3)
  • Sarah Quill – front cover photo
  • Howard Brown – 1984 logo
  • Mighty – sleeve

Charts[]

Chart performance for 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
Chart (1985) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[4] 22
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[5] 33
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[6] 38
European Albums (Music & Media)[7] 12
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] 23
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[9] 21
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[10] 6
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[11] 18
UK Albums (OCC)[12] 23
US Billboard 200[13] 93

Certifications[]

Certifications for 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[14] Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) – Eurythmics". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Cranna, Ian (22 November 1984). "Album Reviews (Eurythmics – "1984")". Smash Hits. Vol. 6 no. 24. p. 25. ISSN 0260-3004.
  3. ^ 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) (liner notes). Eurythmics. Virgin Records. 1984. V1984.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 105. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0496". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Eurythmics – 1984 - For the Love of Big Brother" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  7. ^ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Eurotipsheet. Vol. 2 no. 5. 4 February 1985. p. 14. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  8. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Eurythmics – 1984 - For the Love of Big Brother" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  9. ^ "Charts.nz – Eurythmics – 1984 - For the Love of Big Brother". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Eurythmics – 1984 - For the Love of Big Brother". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Eurythmics – 1984 - For the Love of Big Brother". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  12. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Soundtrack Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  14. ^ "British album certifications – Eurythmics – 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)". British Phonographic Industry. 17 December 1984. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
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