Soft Cell & Jim Foetus - "Ghost Rider" live BBC 1983

[leeynnad]

wow!  amazing

[felipesancho]

very cool cover!!

[MrShmetel]

I love performances that disintegrate and start to spiral out of control.

[hellharmony]

two beasts

so beautiful

[alemmingsdeath]

Marc Almond looks like a baby!

[lepopnoir]

WHAT this is AMAZING, how have I only just found it?!

[royorbitol]

I think I just got a hardon.......

And I'm not gay.

[diskochimp]

Dynamic entrance from Clint as usual...

[nos4atu666]

thx this rules

[needfulthingsTYify]

I promise something has been lost ... see the energy they produced on stage with so less effects and instruments ... and compare them to the modern stage performance ... LOVE BATCAVE RULES

[Zitronengras]

I still love this bit so much, I mean, how sick does it get? Thanks to BBC for actually putting this on air. They are both on very nasty drugs and performing like mad. LOVE IT!! It's like "How far can we go?".

[scotty5003]

I never knew about this. I'm not really surpised they were influenced by Suicide.

[punkxxxxxrocker]

I can imagine Marty and Alan watching this and laughing their asses off.

[janisbondage]

Miss Almond, spare us, leave it alone, with your over blown ego !

[djbethell]

So you just came here to moan about someone else. That sounds like ego to me.

[lovessecretdomain]

what a talent, great cover of a song that I already love

[legolas11795]

How did I make it to nearly 40 years old without having heard this. I can die happy now. Fekkin brilliant

[theenside]

@legolas11795 the band suicide did it first i belive

[AntiMusick]

Flesh Volcano

[yuryiodizadebee]

a jewell in the crown of live soft cell many thanks to jim foetus for another great contribution

another million manias with balls!!

the sound seems a prelude to solo adultos from the vermin in ermine album in 1984.

[cholocharile]

This video makes me want to dress up like Foetus and jump around my room screaming, "AMERICA AMERICA IS KILLING ITS YOUTH!!!".

[coprographia]

I can't remember the last time I didn't feel like doing that.

[ADNtoZ]

great cover.

[scoutthedoggie]

This is not from BBC TV, its taken from Channel Four Television show called "Switch" it was a live show which ran when the Tube finished its first series, I have loads of master recordings from this show inc New Order, Soft Cell, solo Marc Almond, Jo Boxers, Elvis Costello, The Undertones and many more

[polistyrenejassband]

foetus is the only thing that saves this for me

[Eyliusevil]

I really like the suicide version more.

[jorgeonion]

the gories did a better cover of this song.

[9Kzaar11]

Great cover version. I seriously doubt that something like this will ever be seen again on TV.

[mitzi66]

OMG! I didn't know there was video footage of this. For years I wondered who this guy was with Soft Cell after seeing them perform this at Hammersmith Palais, and it had blown me away. It was the second thing I looked up on the internet when I first got a pc, I emailed Marc's fansite and they told me (the first being One the Juggler of course). Now to actually see it, it's just so wild, I love YouTube! Thank you so much edwardiii for sharing this with us x

[yourfavouritedj]

a great song fucked in the arse (without consent)! a terrible cover - it must be the worst one performed by respected musicians. why didn't someone punch kenny g. out cold after just 5 sec.? would have helped a lot!

[cholocharile]

thats amazing

[ROoooo80]

poptastic

[violentinthedark23]

fucking HC!! what a great performance!!

[vaspers]

congratulations. today this video was selected by the NYC Punk Rock Evolution Foundation. original song was by Suicide. love this cover!

[LemurScat97]

Kinda the thing about this is that the first time I ever heard Soft Cell doing "Tainted Love", I thought---wow---they're doing Suicide!

[infantcidelust]

They did a great job with the cover. Honestly, I don't like the cover as much. I dig the sax too! What a great combo!

[gpwitme]

They did a great job with the cover...i dont like the cover that much???? make up your fuckin mind!

[samuraizach007]

If you thought greenwich village, new york city in the 1960's was pretentious, try London in the 80's. Jesus christ.

[HDok]

almond + thirwell = totally awesome

[coum]

almond = god

[ydeeerg]

this is an great version! wish it was on vinyl

[juankenon]

A Suicide bootleg named "Publico Di Merda" has it and there was a flexidisc as well.

Best of luck trying to find a limted pressing Italian bootleg or a piece of cardboard from the mid 80s.

[TeehpodT]

decent, gritty cover version - i prefer the original, though. well, both are pretty good. yeah!

[annoianoid]

I wish i'd been there.

Saw suicide in london a couple of years ago and it was one of the worst gigs i've been to, I think alan vega had consumed ALL the cocaine in london that night, the deluded self indulgent lost it case.

[pv6]

I kind of like this a little more than Suicide's version :D That might be because I really like J.G. Thirwell though.

[chroniccomics5]

almond ftw

[tommclean]

What in the hell have they done to it?

[nodestudio]

I think they did ok. That's sort of the idea - to piss you off. Alan used to get off on upsetting the audience. For example, if say Johnny Cash covered it, it would probably be awesome but it might lose its raw tension.

[tommclean]

You're right actually. I never thought about it like that. I guess nobody can really truly repeat it the way Suicide did it and have the same brilliance so I guess they had to perform it in the way they did. Good comment :D.

[SupremePo0ter]

This is awesome

[AllisterGoetz]

The abrasiveness is coming from Jim Thirlwell, solo musician under the moniker Foetus. Back in the 80s he was very harsh...

[cartoonist2000]

anyone know what soft cell/marc almond album i should get to hear his more abrasive/experimental material?

[VAThrasher]

thats a tough one. ive never found his solo work to be really abrasive or anything and the most abrasive soft cell gets is This Last Night in Sodom [which still isnt that abrasive, but certain tracks like slave to this are pretty experimental/abrasive if you ask me.] Probably the most experimental/abrasive stuff though is from The Immaculate Consumptive or Flesh Volcano [good luck finding recordings though, its very rare stuff] he also did some stuff with Psychic TV. Hope this helped good luck!

[dresshotmad]

Marc is unique with his own writing-nobody can compete or imitate his style! Let others try to imitate his instead of bothering to consider theirs!

[henriksenwill]

With all due respect to Marc Almond, the song is by the band Suicide.

[irocz0r]

Wow, this is excellent. The VHS distortion adds to the mood.

[djbethell]

And they said video was here to last. Well, that's what Tomorrow's World had us believe.

[Meekwagon]

found J.G. a year ago

under a pile of tapes,well,brought back the most ecstatic moments of my me in the early eighties.was open for that,after hearing back,it seems to me that things and senses have closed down a bit.

[erixoff]

What a great surprise to see Softcell so fan of Suicide and make a great cover !

Thanx for the vid.

[kiwistory]

ManofMystery80....just get out... what are you talking about?!

[ManofMystery80]

this is awesome, better than the original... wow

[starkravinwoods]

after credits went up, off air, they did version of "don't go breaking my heart" by Elton John & Kiki Dee (never seen light of day!!!!!)

[ARTHURSTAR]

i remember seing him in Bradford MANY MOONS AGO doing this and he frightened the life out of me lol, not really, FUCKING BRILLIANT XXXX

[LunaSeaSane]

Love this song.

Quite surprised the Cells were able to display this much anger...

[AOCRkid]

because its foetus

[LunaSeaSane]

Aah, so HE injected it into them. Iss a looong stretch from "Non Stop" wouldn't you say?

[ndevil777]

....good old times ;)

how i loved it

[temper21]

:)&

[aginiga]

Good cover version! Check out the original: watch?v=7WqOMPakGCg

[loyman3]

not bad,rock on tommmy>

[redindustrial]

Clint Ruin, go Jim... go go go Some Bizzare Records

[rotkhotarkovsky]

a nice punk cover...

[cthulhuchan]

*wow* thank you for sharing this.

[mitzi66]

Just wild, I saw them do this at Hammersmith Palais, great memories, thanks!

[mpfw]

They nail this song to the wall! Wow. This song has never sounded so good and neither has Soft Cell. Damn. Thanks for making my day.

[steinber]

oh stop taking yourselves so fucking seriously.

[natesot]

the song is a cover of SUICIDE great song man dose anyone have any clips of the shows marc did with jim Lyda lunch and nic cave under the emaculate hmmm i cant remember the whole name lol but its is lenganday marc smashing brian enos piano etc...

[MaggotFilms]

not a bad cover but thirwell's hair is really where it's at

[WalkavBog]

Puffff this is my life!!! a fucking allready the best of the 80's

[nathannever75]

scuse me... but this is music?? haha shitt haha

[ABTE67]

Marc Almond the best singer of the rock and roll history

[David37]

was this song also covered by Sisters Of Mercy or is it another ghostrider song ?

[ranscomb2]

classic marc almond been searchin` high and low for this version ....think its not bbc though thought it was on The Tube or Switch remember it from years ago

[dxmkrew]

yeah, this version isn't so great. but...90% of what suicide wrote was Boring so whatever.

[fuckMandatorySignup]

that's a pretty damn good performance. the song cover itself is OK, kinda fun, a little flat. they definitely give a good show, though, for a pretty small-scale production (the video engineer helped).

but i didn't know there were so many wussies about saxophone...  it was really there for rhythm and texture, it wasn't wailing out in front! you wanna hear crazy rock sax, there's wild shit all over The Stooges' "Funhouse". or, god forbid, John Coltrane in the middle of some smack and a solo.

[Tourist1977]

Yeah. This is pretty bad. Alan Vega should butcher Marc Almond for this.

[blanketshow]

Shit this is Good!!

I found quite a good comedic film on you tube called Martin and Snakes Go To The Zoo-sort of punkoiD humour(complete with sock Monkey)!

[chikurapponooyaji]

fiuckin' great performance!!!

[lagatita70]

Good grief! That's not music, that's frustration music. After hearing most of their songs, "Tainted Love" is the only one I like. But that's just me.

[jonnypatrick145]

man they just butchered that song

[PigdomCome]

Yeah, but it was fun watching them butcher it

[moldie13]

dig me some foetus, but i just can't bring myself to get behind a saxophone... just can't do it...

[mtrucco]

it's not sax it's noise!

[alto522]

caca

[ABTE67]

you dont understand

[steinber]

Wow! Thank you so much for this! Now we're fucking talking!

[fraterwolf]

LOVE THIS!!! Ironic to see a cross on marc he is in the Church of Satan since the late 80s

[gabrielharter]

Fucking amazing! I love Suicide. The Gories do a better version however I can't fucking wait to share this with my friends.

Almond & Mr. Foetus are tearing shit up! Top 3!

[Tchoutoye]

Great stuff

[LegledTrepteg]

most amazing material I've seen on YouTube so far.

[natesot]

How amazing is this two of my favorites Foetus and Marc Almond.

[Psychomania35]

Brilliant

[euchrid9]

Someone, somewhere must have an mp3 of this... I'd love to get my hands on it! Even better than Suicide's original.

In a perfect world, Jim Thirlwell would be worshipped as Elvis' successor (and JG Ballard's writings would replace the Bible). "Why kill time when you can kill yourself?"

[natesot]

oh my god you sound like me JG Ballard Jim Thirlwell and maybe add David Wonahovitz to the mix and were all set.

[euchrid9]

Who in hell is David Wonahovitz? Looking up the name as spelt results in a Googlewhack...

[natesot]

David Wonawovitz is not a musician hes a painter and writer one of my favorites he was also a big political activist in the 80s he died of aids around 92 i know i dont know the correct spelling but he was part of the whole NY street art group that Kieth Harring and Jean Michel Basciat came from.

[natesot]

Also he wrote one of the best books "close to the Knifes" you should read it when i was a kid it changed my life. u2 used allot of his work for there tours and the cover of the song "One" its dedicated to him.

[suckdings]

haha, '80s hair was such a prevalent affliction, even JG Thirwell suffered from it!

[acrimony7]

well,... I gues all I have to say is; You got to love the 80's

[endmaria]

does anyone happen to have another version of ghost rider without foetus??? I had it on tape a long time ago and have been trying to find it since I lost that freakin' tape......does anyone know what I'm talking about?? Can anyone help me????

[Katasui]

Might have been the official song by Suicide from '77 or '78.

[markhnyc]

It was a Cellmates flexidisc I believe, taken from a gig in Edinburgh in 1983....

[laura241966]

ha ha clint aka Jim Foetus ..

[ashuraclock]

foetus nya~n(*'x'*)

[mado0o000oooo]

おもろっ！！！

[lelliesandremains]

holy crap this is amazing

[catsuitboy]

Yes the show was "switch" which was the summer of 83, soft cell did 2 tracks on this show, before ghostrider they played The Soul Inside. It's a great version and if anyone has it it would be good to see again.

THANX

[marcuscarcass]

Getting back to Muriel Grey, who I mentioned a minute ago, I remember her look of total disgust on The Tube after she asked Clint Ruin about how women were portrayed in his lyrics (or something) and he replied "That womans place is on my face". Class, total class ...

[marcuscarcass]

Awesome stuff, all I can say is it is not from "Bliss" which was a fairly bad show presented by Muriel Grey and usually filmed in the car park at Border TV in Carlisle.

[temper21]

"DeAth rApe 2000"

[meighhead]

Awesome. I think this may be a Channel 4 music show called Switch, its not the BBC thats for sure. Thanks for putting it on. Alan xx

[adiezero]

Almost certainly on coke +/or ecstasy... Soft Cell's early success coincided with the first appearances of E on the New York club scene, supplied to the band by their dealer Cindy Ecstasy (not just a clever name then) and was the inspiration for the "Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing" mini-album (hence the name...)

[TVstudio]

Where they on drugs during this?

[potec]

I first saw this in march 1987 on one of mike morton's vidz lol when he lived on grange park road. wonderful stuff

[adiezero]

I'm sure this wasn't on the BBC but actually from one of Channel 4's Friday night between-season replacements for The Tube, maybe called Bliss but I'm not 100% sure... this performance of Ghost Rider was preceded on the programme by the first ever performance of Soul Inside, ages before it was released as a single which dates this as early Summer 1983... great clip!

[aund]

I recall seeing this on TV just before i went out to see some "shite" in Glasgow like Ultravox. Me and my sister said "I wish we were going to see Marc"!!

[grinder99er]

Can't believe I'm seeing this. God, Marc was a delightful scamp. Thanks for posting it!

[PTV]

Amazing!

[marekgothfather]

I was actually there when this was filemd!!!!!

[TerrorAgainstTerror]

haha love jim's hair. could do without the goth kid

suicide cover awesome

[AntiMusick]

WOW! was this ever realised? it's not on Flesh Volcano