The 12 Inch Single
Paul Morley explores the impact of 7 inch single's grand relative - the 12 inch - and its peak in the 80s. From 2012.
From the mid-1970s the humble 7 inch vinyl single was joined by a much grander relative - the 12 inch single.
It reached its peak in 1983 with Blue Monday by New Order, probably the biggest selling 12 inch single of all time.
Music Journalist and co-founder of ZTT Records, Paul Morley visits the Factory Club in Manchester to talk to Peter Hook of New Order about how Blue Monday was written and to designer Peter Saville about the famous sleeve.
Paul explores the origins of the 12 inch single as a potentially higher quality format than the 7 inch single and visits Abbey Road studios to watch an engineer cutting a 12 inch single. Does it really sound better?
And he meets music producer Trevor Horn at Sarm Studios, home of ZTT records, to discuss the Frankie Goes to Hollywood 12 inch singles. ZTT released so many different versions of Two Tribes on 12 inch that the chart rules were changed - so was the record buyer getting value for money?
And what does the 12 inch single tell us about 1980s excesses?
Producer: Nick Holmes
First broadcast on 麻豆社 Radio 4 in March 2012.
Last on
Clip
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How the Blue Monday record sleeve design was inspired
Duration: 01:56
Script test
Broadcasts
- Thu 1 Mar 2012 11:30麻豆社 Radio 4
- Wed 20 Jun 2018 06:30麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra
- Wed 20 Jun 2018 13:30麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra
- Wed 20 Jun 2018 20:30麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra
- Thu 21 Jun 2018 01:30麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra
- Fri 22 Jul 2022 14:30麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra
- Sat 23 Jul 2022 02:30麻豆社 Radio 4 Extra
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