THE NORMAL – Warm Leatherette (1978)

The Normal is the recording artist name used by English music producer Daniel Miller, a film editor at the time, who is best known as the founder of the record label Mute Records.

In 1977, Miller had split up with his girlfriend. A friend suggested that he read a book the friend himself had just finished. The book was Crash (1973) by J. G. Ballard. He felt that Ballard’s writing took him five minutes into the future; the novel was to be a major influence in the music he would produce as The Normal. Miller was disillusioned by the fact you needed to learn three chords to be in a punk band, so he decided to purchase a synthesiser. His thinking was that you only needed to learn to press one key on a synthesiser.

After buying a Korg 700s synthesiser from Macari’s music shop in London, Miller recorded and released a single under the name The Normal. This was T.V.O.D./Warm Leatherette. Both tracks were minimalist electronic songs influenced by the Crash novel. He wanted the sound of the recordings to be visual, like driving along a highway between large buildings then going through a tunnel. The single was recorded in Daniel Miller’s house using a TEAC four track tape recorder and the Korg miniKORG 700S synthesiser.

“Warm Leatherette” has been covered and reinterpred by a variety of artists such as Trent Reznor, Peter Murphy, Suzi Quatro, Grace Jones, Laibach, Chicks On Speed, and Otto von Schirach.