In wanting to share their vision of the future, they created its soundtrack in the form of an album called TV Mania: Bored With Prozac and The Internet?, that they also intended to turn into a Broadway musical.
The tracks were constructed by blending
television samples and looping rhythm tracks to create a sonically
sophisticated collection of songs that now serve as the perfect backdrop
for the frenetic energy and atmosphere of today's digital
age.
Shortly after they completed the final mixes, the original tapes
were stored and the project was temporarily shelved as other priorities
took hold. The intention was always to find the time between Duran Duran project
cycles to go back and release
the album - perhaps around some anniversary of its inception.
Although
they discussed it often over the years, the tapes were thought to have
been lost, so it wasn't until recently when going through material at an
out-of-town storage facility, to digitize
old masters that were held there, Rhodes discovered the original TV
Mania tapes misfiled, and he swiftly decided they were long overdue for a
release.
On March 11, the TV Mania project will finally see the light of day on vinyl and a limited
edition box set through The Vinyl Factory and digitally via The Orchard/Beatport.
Produced by TV Mania (Rhodes and Cuccurullo), Mark Tinley and Anthony J Resta, Bored With Prozac and The Internet? is
a conceptual soundtrack for what the duo imagined as a “bizarre TV
cyber soap
opera,” about a family who gives away their freedom to scientists in
exchange for a hi-tech modern lifestyle and reality show fame.
With song
titles like “Yoghurt and Fake Tan,” and “Using A Hidden Camera—Eyes In
The Sky,” the pastiche of cool beats and conceptual
content proved more prescient than its creators could ever have
anticipated.
“We were envisioning a world where a
family would give up their day-to-day privacy and allow their existence
to be televised to the masses, and this was two years before the film, The Truman Show and four years before Survivor,”
said Cuccurullo. “Now everyone is giving away their most intimate details online and on reality TV.”
At the time of the album's creation, the Internet was in its infancy and reality TV only existed in the form of MTV’s hit show The Real World.
Back then, the TV shows we indulge in today could only be imagined as
pure science fiction.
Aside from reality TV, the album also explores a broad range of other
modern themes, including virtual shopping, surveillance, pharmaceutical
drugs, fashion, film, fame and faith. All of which are now ubiquitous in
our society, but mostly were not then.
“When I found the master recordings, I thought ‘Wow, this sounds unbelievably contemporary’," said Rhodes. "When we put them up on the system, it was not only a great surprise,
given what we had thought their fate was, but it was
also literally like finding a painting and blowing the dust off of it. Times have certainly changed since we made the record, but the subject
matter that inspired this album happens to be at the forefront of
today's world, so the songs have weathered the
test of time in a strangely beautiful way.”
The Vinyl Factory will release both limited boxed and gatefold editions of Bored With Prozac and The Internet? In addition to the vinyl featured in the gatefold, the limited edition boxed set will also include exclusive
Polaroid photographs shot and signed by Nick Rhodes, screen printed artwork, a personally authored note by Warren Cuccurrullo,
and an oversized glossy booklet featuring exclusive imagery.
Tracks from the album “Beautiful
Clothes”, “Euphoria”, and "I Wanna Make Films" have recently been
remixed by the likes of MNDR, The New Sins, Monikker and MSTMX, and will
be released digitally via Beatport in the coming month.
Duran Duran fans may recall a single produced by TV Mania, “Electric Barbarella” off the album Medazzaland. Released in 1997, the song became the world's first digital download to be sold online.
Visit tvmaniamusic.com for more information on TV Mania, and see the full track listing and limited edition box set details below.
TV Mania: Bored with Prozac and The Internet?
Track Listing:
1. What About God?
2. Euphoria
3. Beautiful Clothes
4. You’re Dreaming Pal
5. Paramount
6. What’s In The Future?
7. I Wanna Make Films
8. Yoghurt and Fake Tan
9. Grab The Sun
10. Using A Hidden Camera - Eyes In The Sky
11. People Know Your Name
Remixes:
Beautiful Clothes (Eric Hart and Warren Cuccurullo Remix)
Beautiful Clothes (Peter Wade MNDR Remix)
Beautiful Clothes (The New Sins Remix)
Euphoria' (Monikkr Remix)
Euphoria' (MSTMX Remix)
'I Wanna Make Films' (MSTMX Remix)
The Vinyl Factory limited editions:
Boxed Edition
* Cloth bound pure white lift-off lid box w/black ribbon pull inside
* Front of box screen printed black and gold
* Nick Rhodes signed Polaroid hand dipped onto white art stock 12" square paper
* CMYK photo of Nick Rhodes & Warren Cuccurrullo on same 12" stock
* Black envelope holding Warren Cuccurrullo's signed A5 paper drawing positioned on 12" stock
* 12pp newspaper print fold out booklet
*12pp 4 col. 12" glossy booklet
* 2 x 180gram white vinyl
* 2 x white disco bags
* 4 x black labels hand-stamped with white ink TV Mania logo
Gatefold Edition
* Gatefold sleeve screen printed w/black & gold
* 2 x 180gram white vinyl
* 2 x white disco bags
* 4 x black labels hand-stamped with white ink TV Mania logo
* 12pp newspaper print fold out booklet
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