12" single Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Milli Vanilli “Girl You Know It’s True”

sfilzen — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:25:44 +0000

Milli Vanilli “Girl You Know It’s True” 1988. Hansa Records. German 12″ single, another Berlin acquisition from the same truly bizarre record shop as a lot of our other Germany finds – I think the weird owner was mildly impressed that I knew Milli Vanilli was a German “group” put together by producer Frank Farian (also responsible for the most excellent Boney M). This is also a sort-of Fab Morvan appreciation post (he’s the surviving member of the Malli Vanilli duo) for NOT performing at this week’s national performance farce: he backed out about a month ago along with most of the other booked artists; we have very few records of the other artists who were invited and who backed out, but if I find more I’ll get to those too in the next week or so.

“Girl You Know It’s True” was first written and performed by the US group Numarx in 1987. I’m fairly certain it didn’t chart but the track gained some popularity in the European dance club scene and came to the attention of Frank Farian. Milli Vanilli “recorded” their version and it went to #1 in Germany and to #2 in the US, #3 in the UK. I bet you are singing it now, it was that popular and infectious…and infamous. The track appeared on their 1988 debut German LP All or Nothing and then again on the US 1989 release Girl You Know It’s True. Farian was notorious for putting together bands that didn’t actually perform the material – they would lip synch and dance (which is HARD and I give the performers props for doing it) – but this was not admitted either on the record credits or in “live” performances. According to Wiki “The duo [Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus] served as the public faces for singers Charles Shaw, John Davis, and Brad Howell [all American musicians], who Farian thought were talented musicians but lacked a marketable image.” In July 1989 the backing track for “Girl You Know It’s True” skipped and looped at a live MTV performance and Milli Vanilli fled the stage. Then in early 1990 their LP won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990 but the award was revoked later that year when Farian finally admitted that Morvan and Pilatus didn’t sing a single note on the LP. To this date it is the only time a Grammy award has been taken away; their label Artista dropped them from its roster and deleted their album and its masters from their catalogue, also making Girl You Know It’s True the largest-selling album to ever be deleted plus a court ruling allowed any American who bought the album to get a partial refund. (wiki). I admit to disparaging the band back then but I have much much greater sympathy for them now, after understanding the individuals’ background, their situation and the industry as a whole (in a nutshell: it’s pretty slimy, underhanded, greedy and dishonest). Along with the single version of “Girl You Know It’s True,” there is also a “Super Club Mix” and the track “Magic Touch.”

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Duran Duran “Violence of Summer”

sfilzen — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:42:11 +0000

Duran Duran “Violence of Summer (Love’s Taking Over)” 1990, 12″single. Today, June 8th, is Nick Rhodes’ birthday (b. 1962). Funky “Violence of Summer” was the lead single off of their 1990 LP Liberty: it went to #20 in the UK and to #64 in the US. Honestly (and regretfully) I wasn’t paying much attention to D2 in ’90 so I’m woefully unaware of this single and that LP. This was the time period where both Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor had left the band and Warren Cuccurullo was on guitar and Sterling Campbell was filling in on drums. There were several variants of the single released: this one is the US 12″ with four versions of “Violence” plus “Throb,” a previously unreleased track which is an instrumental remix of “My Antarctica” (also on Liberty). The four remixes are pretty similar: lots of throbbing dance beats, Simon vocal samples, sci-fi(ish) voiceovers, etc. which make it difficult to pinpoint a favorite. The Story Mix is kinda cool as it starts out with Simon doing a beat-poet-like thing which is kinda awesome and hilarious. The Power Mix is super ass-shaking and segues seamlessly into the Dub Mix. I’d say my least favorite (though it’s still good!) is the Rock Mix with the train horns but the beat is crazy infectious and hypnotic which almost balances out the horn blast. The radio single/album track isn’t on the 12″ but it is here:

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Fine Young Cannibals “Don’t Look Back”

sfilzen — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 16:56:36 +0000

Fine Young Cannibals “Don’t Look Back” 1989. 12″ single, remixed, extended version. It was the third single from their second, and last, album, ’89’s The Raw & the Coooked. The previous two singles from the LP, “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Good Thing,” both went to #1 in the US and I totally remember – and liked – those songs. “Don’t Look Back” was the third single and while it did almost make the Top 10 in the US, going to #11 (and to #34 in the UK), I have zero recollection of it. It’s danceable but not nearly as much as the other singles, nor as ear-wormy/catchy. It’s fine but not remarkable, more 80’s-bland. Side A has the longer extended remix version and Side B has the 7″ single version of “Don’t Look Back” as well as another just OK song, “You Never Know” which is brightly and boppy very 80’s dance pop.

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Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life”

sfilzen — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 17:03:53 +0000

Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life” 1986. 12″ single. The boppy, upbeat new wavey track was the lead single from True Stories and hit no. 25 in the US. Its video won the 1987 MTV Best Group Video award as well as “Best Video from a Film” (that video is extended sequence lifted directly from the True Stories movie): it features cameos from actor John Goodman and comedian Sam Kinison and the Talking Head band members parody a bunch of 80’s celebrities (Prince, Billy Idol, Madonna, etc) lip syncing. So fun! It’s not my all-time favorite Heads song, but it is pretty great. The 12″ single has both the Extended Mix as well as the LP mix, plus a version of the country-twanged “People Like Us” from the True Stories movie; there is a different version on the album. I’m not crazy about that song. And since I don’t even remember if I ever saw True Stories back in the 80’s (I probably did at some basement party but wasn’t paying attention), I can’t recall its place in the film.

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Echo & the Bunnymen “The Killing Moon”

sfilzen — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 18:21:27 +0000

Echo & the Bunnymen “The Killing Moon” 1984. 12″ single. The lead single from their fourth LP Ocean Rain and one of their best-charting, going to #9 in the UK. Gorgeously neo-psychedelic post-punk with an exotic sound inspired by Russian balalaika music. The 12″ single has two versions, the single version plus the “All Night Version” which is much longer and brilliant. I especially love the increased length of the track and the intensification of the cello solo. Also on this release is a hard-rocking live version of my all-time favorite Echo song “Do It Clean,” recorded on July 18th, 1983 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the final encore of their set. The vocals are soaring (with a Jim Morrison-esque meets James Brown breakdown at the bridge), the beat relentless, the guitar shredding and bending. Simply amazing. I wish they had played this version when we saw them play last year at the Pabst Theater. The entire Albert Hall concert can be seen here.

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Front 242 “Interception”

sfilzen — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:03:39 +0000

Front 242 “Interception” 1987. Wax Trax Records. 12″ single and I think this is a pretty rare one! Two industrial dance/EBM tracks from the Belgian electronic body music pioneers. Side A has “Quite Unusual,” which was the lead 7″ single from October 1986 from the ’87 LP Official Version. The 12″ mix of the single appeared as a bonus track on the CD release of Official Version. Side B is “Agressiva,” a reworking of the track “Agressiva Due” (also is on Official Version). Not surpassingly, both songs on this 12″ are aggressively electronic and brutally hypnotic dance tracks.

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George Michael “Monkey”

sfilzen — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 18:16:42 +0000

George Michael “Monkey” 1988. 12″ single. The sixth single released from Faith, “Monkey” went to no. 1 in the US (on both the singles and dance charts) and to no. 13 in the UK. It’s an infectiously funky song about addiction.

I’m not sure I appreciated how great it was in ’88 (or how amazing George Michael was, for that matter) while deep in my punk-only phase. This 12″ has the extended version on Side A which is much longer than the single, with lots of extra synth effects and George Michael asking for more bass and guitars, etc. Side B has an “a’cappella” version of the song (a bit misleading: there are lots of drum machine beats and synth chords accenting the processed vocals) plus an “extra beats” variant (not misleading: lots of extra and crazy-ass funk’d out beats). The radio/video single version is not on the 12″ but it was remixed from the album version by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Paula Abdul choreographed the video. SO 80’s.

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Prince and the Revolution “I Would Die 4 U”

sfilzen — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 18:43:20 +0000

Prince and the Revolution “I Would Die 4 U” released 40 years ago (tomorrow), November 28th, 1984. 12″ extended version. The shorter 7″ version of “I Would Die 4 U” was the fourth single from Prince’s 1984 smash hit masterpiece Purple Rain; it went to #8 in the US and to #58 in the UK. I totally remember making up ridiculous dance/gymnastic routines to the song in junior high, complete with YMCA-style body letter forming and finger guns to the head. This 12″ has the much much longer extended version which “is actually a rehearsal jam on the song with The Revolution and musicians from Sheila E.’s band, Eddie M (on sax) and Miko Weaver (guitar), along with Sheila E. herself recorded some time before the Purple Rain Tour. The jam features some overdubbing and fades at the end; a longer version, nearly 31 minutes long, was never released officially, but has been bootlegged.” (wiki) I do not have that half-hour bootleg. Side B is the seasonal “Another Lonely Christmas,” a sexy and soulful song, reminiscent of the style of the single “Purple Rain.”

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Madonna “Like a Virgin”

sfilzen — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 17:21:51 +0000

Madonna “Like a Virgin” released 40 years ago today, October 31st 1984. 12″ maxi single, extended dance remix. So many vivid memories of when this song came out – the scandalous title (the song may have helped contribute to the creation of the PMRC), the iconic Venetian gondola video and Madonna’s infamous MTV Video Music Awards (its first year!) stage-writhing-in-a-wedding-dress performance (which I watched and loved though at age 13 not sure I totally understood). Written by songwriting partners Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and produced by Nile Rodgers, “Like a Virgin” was a monster smash hit, going to #1 in the US (on multiple charts) and to #1 or at least the Top 10 virtually everywhere else in the world. As the lead single from Like a Virgin (released November 12, 1984), it set up the record to also be a massive success with teens lining up at record stores to buy it on its day of release (I didn’t go that far); the LP is still considered to be one of the best releases of the 80’s. In 2023 the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry added Like a Virgin to its collection due to its “cultural, historically and aesthetic significance. The 12″ extended dance remix of the single, courtesy of Jellybean Benitez, is considerably longer than the album version and radio single, with extra synth effects and dance grooves. The b-side of the 12″ is a mid-tempo dance track that also appears on Like a Virgin: “Stay.” I find it to be one of the less interesting songs on the album but it’s a good flipside choice for the single.

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Echo & the Bunnymen “Bring on the Dancing Horses”

sfilzen — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:31:50 +0000

Echo & the Bunnymen “Bring on the Dancing Horses” 1985. 12″ single (extended mix). It appeared on the 1985 best-of Songs to Learn & Sing; it was the only new track that appeared on the compilation album and was recorded for Pretty in Pink (1986) film by John Hughes. It reached #21 on the UK charts (and did not, as far as I know, chart in the US though I certainly was a huge fan at the time). The 12″ extended mix is pretty similar to the shorter, original single mix, just longer with more shimmering and swoops. They played “Bring on the Dancing Horses” when we saw Echo play at the Pabst Theater this past May when we pissed off one guy so badly for, gasp, dancing and standing during this song (and others), that he leapt over a row of seats to yell at us. (I’m not sure why but people just won’t stand up at the Pabst. Ian McCulloch finally griped about this and the first few rows on the first floor eventually got off their asses but the balcony, except for us and a couple of other people, kept their butts down. Lame.)

Echo & the Bunnymen, Milwaukee 2024

Side B has the big-drummed, post punk/pop “Bedbugs & Ballyhoo.” They re-recorded it for the ’87 album Echo & the Bunnymen and released it as a single. Side B also has the industrial-psyched song “Over Your Shoulder.” That song, along with the other two tracks on this 12″ would appear as bonus tracks on the 2003 re-release version of Echo & the Bunnymen.

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