Gold (Spandau Ballet song)

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"Gold"
Spandau Gold.jpg
Single by Spandau Ballet
from the album True
B-side"Foundation" (live)
Released
  • 5 August 1983 (1983-08-05) (U.K.)
  • 1 November 1983 (U.S.)
Recorded1982
Genre
Length
  • 7:12 (extended version)
  • 4:51 (album version)
  • 3:51 (single version)
LabelChrysalis
Songwriter(s)Gary Kemp
Producer(s)Jolley & Swain
Spandau Ballet singles chronology
"True"
(1983) 		"Gold"
(1983) 		"Pleasure"
(1983)
Audio sample
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"Gold" is a 1983 single by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, taken from their third album True.

Production history[]

Gary Kemp wrote both the music and lyrics; the song was produced by the partnership of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain.

The music video was filmed on location in Carmona, Spain and directed by Brian Duffy. The video features members of Spandau Ballet walking through a desert, down streets and gathering inside various buildings while searching for gold shapes that make up a gold puzzle.

A 'making of' video featured photographs of the band taken by his son, Chris Duffy. The video featured Sadie Frost as a gold-painted nymph, in one of her earlier roles.[1]

Some parts of the music video were also filmed in Leighton House, which was also used in the video for "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers.

Release[]

The song is Spandau Ballet's second-highest charting single in both the United Kingdom and the United States, behind their previous release, "True",[2] reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart (KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up" held it off the top of that chart), and reaching #29 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Legacy[]

Ian Gittins described the song in The Guardian as a "brash blare of self-belief that appears to be constructed from pure titanium. It may be the least subtle song ever written, but, like Spandau Ballet, it mainlines sheer chutzpah."[3] Lead singer Tony Hadley said, "'Gold' is the song which even today's kids enjoy singing along to in student bars up and down the country, and is one of main reasons I get so many corporate shows. It's requested all the time at awards shows." He said this in 2011 to explain his earnings being higher since the start of the 21st century than they had been in the 1980s.[4]

"Gold" was re-recorded in a semi-acoustic, unplugged-like style for Spandau Ballet's 2009 album Once More.

The song has featured in various shows and films. As part of the UK radio station Absolute Radio's celebrations for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Christian O'Connell, the network's breakfast show host, pledged to play the song for every gold medal won by Team GB. Spandau Ballet's lead singer Tony Hadley was also invited onto the programme for a live performance of "Gold".[5]

The song has been used in two advert campaigns for Bold laundry soap, in 2012 with child gymnasts and as of 2019 on TV and radio in parody form with a woman in situations such as a job interview and a proposal, giving a sense of empowerment.[citation needed]

The song has also been turned into a football chant, with fans of West Ham replacing "gold" with "Joey Cole" or "Carlton Cole", both players who turned out for the team; fans of Celtic also chanted it when Carlton Cole played for them. Irish side Bohemian have adopted it as their club song, replacing the chorus of "gold" with "Bohs".[citation needed]

"Gold" was used in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the fictional in-game radio station "Wave 103".[citation needed]

Cover versions[]

Track listing[]

7" version[]

  1. "Gold" – 3:54
  2. "Gold (Instrumental)" – 2:40

12" version[]

  1. "Gold (Extended Version)" – 7:12
  2. "Foundation (Live)" – 3:54

Charts[]

Chart (1983–84, 2012) Peak
position[6]
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] 9
Canada RPM Top Singles[8] 12
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[9] 27
French Airplay Chart[10] 3
Ireland (IRMA) 4
Netherlands Singles Chart 3
New Zealand Singles Chart 8
Poland (LP3)[11] 7
Spain (AFYVE)[12] 4
UK Singles Chart 2
US Billboard Hot 100 29
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs[13] 8
US Billboard Adult Contemporary 17

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[14] Gold 400,000double-dagger

double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ Girl on Film (21 March 2010). "Images of Heaven: GOLD by Spandau Ballet (1983)". Imagesofheaven.blogspot.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004), The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition. (Billboard Publications.)
  3. ^ Gittins, Ian (1 October 2014). "Spandau Ballet review – return of the shoulder-heaving soul boys". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  4. ^ Webber, Richard (24 July 2011). "Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley: 'I earn more today than in the Eighties'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Absolute Radio to play Gold over & over". Radio Today. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  6. ^ Chart Positions - Allmusic.com
  7. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ^ "Item: 3034 - Library and Archives Canada". Library and Archives Canada - RBM. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 11 February 1984. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Song artist 726 - Spandau Ballet". The World's Music Charts. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Notowanie nr 76" (in Polish). 1 October 1983. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  12. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  13. ^ "Chart Highlights: Ke$ha Climbs To No. 1 on Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  14. ^ "British single certifications – Spandau Ballet – Gold". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 April 2019.Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Gold in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.

External links[]

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