Description
Check the exclusive video showing this 12″ for sale
Check the exclusive video showing this 12″ for sale
[in world war two the average age of the combat soldier was 26. in Vietnam he was 19]
The ultimate expression of musical transcendence and transmission of psychological trauma. So bitter. So harsh. So genius. So Perfect.
Sometimes it takes a foreigner (Hardcastle is British) to perceive things about a nation and make art out of it, like this.
Paul Hardcastle – 19 (Extended Version)
Label: Chrysalis
Catalog#: CHS 12 2860
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Supersingle
Country: UK
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic Style: Electro, Synth-pop
Tracklist:
19 (Extended Version) 5:13
B1 Fly By Night 3:30
B2 Dolores 3:40
“19” is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle (1985). The song features dialogue by television narrator Peter Thomas, and a strong anti-war message. Nineteen topped the pop charts in the UK for five weeks, and reached the top twenty in the USA, where it also topped the dance chart. For a while, it was the top selling single in thirteen countries (helped by the fact that versions of the song were recorded in French, Spanish, German and Japanese), and it received the Ivor Novello award for Bestselling Single Of 1985. The songs English language release came in at least three different 12″ versions, each with an alternate cover design. Hardcastle was later sued by ABC for his unauthorized use of samples from the documentary.
The track is about Americas involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. “19” features sampled dialogue and news reports from Vietnam Requiem, an ABC television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by veterans. In 2009, the song placed at #73 on VH1s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s.
The title “19” comes from the documentary’s claim that the average age of an American combat soldier in the war was 19, as compared to the claim of World War IIs 26. The song incorporated bits of interviews from soldiers as well. The song also comments that while the tour of duty was longer during WWII, soldiers in Vietnam were subject to hostile enemy fire almost every day.
The success of “19” meant that Hardcastle’s manager Simon Fuller, who had recently left Chrysalis Records to set up on his own, was able to use the funds to continue his business. He named the business 19 Management as a nod to the fact that the song enabled his start-up to continue and the number 19 has become of great significance to Fuller. Fuller went on to become the most successful British music manager of all time and was behind the success of the Spice Girls and American Idol. Hardcastle has continued his connections to 19 Entertainment and in 2009 created the sonic sound for the end card used at the end of 19s television shows.
The song inspired the videogame 19 Part One: Boot Camp.
Chart (1985) Peak position:
Austrian Singles Chart 1
Canadian RPM Top Singles 2
France Singles Chart 15
German Singles Chart 1
Irish Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart 1
Dutch Top 40 1
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 1
Norwegian Singles Chart 1
Swedish Singles Chart 1
Swiss Singles Chart 1
UK Singles Chart 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 15
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 1
How we made the pop song 19 by Paul Hardcastle and Ken Grunbaum
Paul Hardcastle, composer
All my life I wanted to be a motorbike racer, until I had a bad crash and ended up in hospital for four months. While I was bedridden I listened to the radio all the time, especially clubby stuff, and thought: “I can do that.” So I swapped my video camera for a friend’s synthesiser and did.
Then, one night, I was watching TV and happened to tape a documentary – it was ABC’s Vietnam Requiem – about the war. When I watched it back, what struck me was how young the soldiers were: the documentary said their average age was 19. I was out having fun in pubs and clubs when I was 19, not being shoved into jungles and shot at. One line – “None of them received a hero’s welcome” – really struck a chord. When the soldiers came home, people wondered what had happened to the smiling kids who went out there. What did they expect if they’d been through that shit?
I started messing around and adding music to the narrative. The main sound was electro – I was hugely into Afrika Bambaataa at the time – but I added a bit of jazz and a nice melody. I used an Emu Emulator, an early type of sampler that had a two-second limit when it came to doing samples. That’s why the hook was “N-n-n-nineteen”. It was the only bit of the narrative that made sense in two seconds.
I’d had two records out on independent labels: they’d stalled at No 41, and I’d started to think it was never going to happen. Then I went into HMV and the guy said: “You’re outselling Frankie Goes to Hollywood.” The next thing I knew, it was No 1 in Britain and around the world. In the US, even though it outsold everybody else for three weeks solid, it only reached No 15, because back then the chart was based on airplay as well as sales. A few stations refused to play it, thinking it was anti-American, which it wasn’t. But I had tons of letters from Vietnam vets thanking me for doing something for them.
The song’s still special for me. It’s also still relevant. In 2010, I did a new version about Afghanistan. My son’s friend was killed there. He was 19.
Ken Grunbaum, promoter and video editor
I was working for Chrysalis Records, and Simon Fuller – whose 19 Entertainment would later launch the Spice Girls – was a very young A&R guy, but we just got on. He wanted me to sit in on a meeting. Right at the end, Paul said: “Oh, did you see that documentary about Vietnam last week? I taped it and have been messing about with it.” He played us a very rough version of 19. When I heard that “N-n-n-nineteen” hook, I had a “What the heck?” moment.
These were the early days of spoken-word sampling: the general public had never heard anything like it. One of the first people to get behind 19 was Tony Blackburn, on his Radio London show. He played it and the public went mad for it. Not only did 19 sound unlike anything else on the radio, it also told a story. But, because it wasn’t a performance song with a band standing there, it needed a video. So I edited one from the documentary.
Our legal department had a nightmare getting clearance for the samples; there were no precedents for something like this. We ended up having to pay Peter Thomas, the narrator, royalties. Paul was off doing more mixes of the song to keep the interest in it high, too – and the public wanted every version. It was amazing.
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