Information Society “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)” 1988. Tommy Boy Records. Two days ago, September 7th, was the 50th anniversary of Star Trek and I just realized I had a way to celebrate! Information Society’s infectiously dance-tastic synth pop one-hit wonder (it spent 25 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, hitting #3 in October ‘88) derives its subtitle and relentless sample from Leonard Nimoy’s Spock in the Star Trek episode “Return to Tomorrow.” Bones (DeForest Kelley) also gets a sample, his contribution from the episode “I, Mudd,” on the single’s intro “it’s worked so far, but we’re not out yet.”

I did a lot of dancing to this song in the fall of ‘88 but always thought that Information Society was British. But! They are Midwesterners from Minneapolis who got together in a dorm room at Macalester College in the early 80s, noodling around with experimental electronic music (how very very 80′s liberal arts collegey). Information Society managed to get permission from Paramount Pictures to use the Star Trek samples on their single because Adam Nimoy, Leonard’s son, was a fan of the band.