The Associates

Biography

The Associates (or simply Associates) were a Scottish post-punk and pop band, formed in Dundee in 1979 by lead vocalist Billy MacKenzie and guitarist Alan Rankine. The band released an unauthorized cover version of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging×Boys Keep SwingingJune 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Boys Keep Swinging3:392Mona Property Girl3:22" as their debut single in 1979, which landed them a recording contract with Fiction Records. They followed with their debut studio album The Affectionate Punch×The Affectionate Punch1 August 1980 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1The Affectionate Punch3:30A2Amused as Always4:20A3Logan Time4:12A4Paper House4:54A5Transport to Central5:02B1A Matter of Gender4:30B2Even Dogs in the Wild3:23B3Would I… Bounce Back3:59B4Deeply Concerned3:39B5A3:57 in 1980 and the compilation album Fourth Drawer Down×Fourth Drawer DownOctober 1981 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1White Car in Germany4:50A2A Girl Named Property5:25A3Kitchen Person4:50A4Q Quarters4:58B5Tell Me Easter’s on Friday4:26B6The Associate4:57B7Message Oblique Speech5:31B8An Even Whiter Car4:45 in 1981, both to critical praise.
They achieved commercial success in 1982 with their UK Top 10 studio album Sulk and UK Top 20 singles×Singles26 July 2004 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 28 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Boys Keep Swinging3:422The Affectionate Punch3:293Tell Me Easter’s on Friday4:304Kites3:485Q Quarters4:566Kitchen Person3:337A3:548Message Oblique Speech4:019White Car in Germany4:5410Party Fears Two4:0811Club Country4:041218 Carat Love Affair3:4113Love Hangover4:2114Ice Cream Factory3:58Disc 21A Matter of Gender4:362Those First Impressions4:423Waiting for the Loveboat4:274Breakfast4:265Take Me to the Girl4:256Heart of Glass4:027Country Boy2:598Fever4:309Fire to Ice4:0510Waiting for the Loveboat (Slight Return)4:1811Just Can’t Say Goodbye4:0012Baby4:0613Colours Will Come4:2414Pastime Paradise3:31 "Party Fears Two×Party Fears Two1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAParty Fears Two5:38BIt's Better This Way3:40" and "Club Country×Club Country29 April 1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAClub Country (extended version)B1A.G. It’s You AgainB2Ulcragyceptemol", during which time they were associated with the new pop movement. Rankine left the group that year, leaving MacKenzie to record under the Associates name until 1990. They briefly reunited in 1993. MacKenzie's suicide in 1997 was the band's end; Rankine died twenty-six years later in 2023.

1979–1982: Formation and independent success

Billy MacKenzie and guitarist Alan Rankine met in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1976 and formed the cabaret duo the Ascorbic Ones, although Rankine claimed that this was "a fantasy band that Bill and I dreamt up to give ourselves a past". In 1978, they recorded songs as Mental Torture before changing the name to the Associates.
Disappointed that their early recordings were not getting picked up, MacKenzie concocted the stunt of doing a cover version of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging×Boys Keep SwingingJune 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Boys Keep Swinging3:392Mona Property Girl3:22", without copyright permission, just six weeks after Bowie's version hit the UK Top 10. Released in June 1979, this debut Associates single reached No. 15 in Record Mirror's Scottish chart and gained them airplay on John Peel's Radio One show. MacKenzie later said that the band recorded the Bowie song "to prove the point. It was a strange way of proving it, but it worked. People said, 'That is awful. How dare they!'" The ensuing attention earned them a recording contract with Fiction Records, and their debut studio album, The Affectionate Punch×The Affectionate Punch1 August 1980 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1The Affectionate Punch3:30A2Amused as Always4:20A3Logan Time4:12A4Paper House4:54A5Transport to Central5:02B1A Matter of Gender4:30B2Even Dogs in the Wild3:23B3Would I… Bounce Back3:59B4Deeply Concerned3:39B5A3:57, followed on 1 August 1980. By this time the duo of MacKenzie and Rankine had been joined by bassist Michael Dempsey and drummer John Murphy, though in most promotional material the group were still marketed as a duo.
A string of 1981 non-album singles×Singles26 July 2004 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 28 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Boys Keep Swinging3:422The Affectionate Punch3:293Tell Me Easter’s on Friday4:304Kites3:485Q Quarters4:566Kitchen Person3:337A3:548Message Oblique Speech4:019White Car in Germany4:5410Party Fears Two4:0811Club Country4:041218 Carat Love Affair3:4113Love Hangover4:2114Ice Cream Factory3:58Disc 21A Matter of Gender4:362Those First Impressions4:423Waiting for the Loveboat4:274Breakfast4:265Take Me to the Girl4:256Heart of Glass4:027Country Boy2:598Fever4:309Fire to Ice4:0510Waiting for the Loveboat (Slight Return)4:1811Just Can’t Say Goodbye4:0012Baby4:0613Colours Will Come4:2414Pastime Paradise3:31 on the label Situation Two were compiled as Fourth Drawer Down×Fourth Drawer DownOctober 1981 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1White Car in Germany4:50A2A Girl Named Property5:25A3Kitchen Person4:50A4Q Quarters4:58B5Tell Me Easter’s on Friday4:26B6The Associate4:57B7Message Oblique Speech5:31B8An Even Whiter Car4:45, released that October. These releases saw the band develop an interest in experimenting with unorthodox instrumentation and recording techniques, including sounds being amplified through the tube of a vacuum cleaner on the track "Kitchen Person×Kitchen Person22 August 1981 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAKitchen Person4:55BAn Even Whiter Car4:45". Also in 1981, Rankine and MacKenzie released a version of "Kites×Kites11 May 1981 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAKites3:49BA Girl Named Property4:57" under the name 39 Lyon Street, with Christine Beveridge on lead vocals. The B-side, "A Girl Named Property" (a remake of "Mona Property Girl" from the "Boys Keep Swinging" single), was credited to the Associates.

1982–1988: WEA/Warner years

As Situation Two's parent label Beggars Banquet had a labels deal with WEA International at the time (primarily for Gary Numan), the Associates found themselves signed to Warner with their releases now going out on their own Associates record label. The band's breakthrough came in 1982 with the release of the single "Party Fears Two×Party Fears Two1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAParty Fears Two5:38BIt's Better This Way3:40". Buoyed along by the popularity of synth-pop at the time, the song reached No. 9 on the UK singles chart with the band becoming one of the leading acts of the new pop movement. Two other hits followed, "Club Country×Club Country29 April 1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAClub Country (extended version)B1A.G. It’s You AgainB2Ulcragyceptemol" and "18 Carat Love Affair×18 Carat Love Affair23 July 1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA18 Carat Love Affair3:50BLove Hangover4:20", a vocal version of the instrumental track "Nothinginsomethingparticular". On 14 May 1982, the band released their most commercially successful studio album, Sulk. Martha Ladly, of the Canadian rock band Martha and the Muffins, contributed backing vocals and keyboards to this album.

At the last minute, MacKenzie refused to proceed with the extensive tour that had been planned to promote the release of Sulk. This proved disastrous for the band's career; the band was being courted by Seymour Stein of Sire Records, but without MacKenzie's willingness to tour, Stein lost interest. In the aftermath of MacKenzie's refusal, Rankine left the band. MacKenzie continued to write and record music under the name Associates until 1990.
Their third studio album Perhaps×PerhapsFebruary 1985 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Those First Impressions4:43A2Waiting for the Loveboat6:56A3Perhaps6:33A4Schampout6:03A5Helicopter Helicopter4:08B1Breakfast5:33B2Thirteen Feelings4:39B3The Stranger in Your Voice6:17B4The Best of You5:37B5Don't Give Me That I Told You So Look5:13 was released on 9 February 1985. It was a commercial failure in comparison to their previous releases, peaking at No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart but only selling around 40,000 copies, putting Billy MacKenzie in significant debt to Warner Music Group. However, it was their only album to chart in the Netherlands, peaking at No. 29 on the Dutch Albums Chart. The first single taken from the album was "Those First Impressions×Those First Impressions11 May 1984 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAThose First Impressions (extended version)8:06BThirteen Feelings4:18" which reached No. 43 on the UK singles chart, "Waiting for the Loveboat×Waiting for the Loveboat1984 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAWaiting for the Loveboat (extended version)8:18B1Waiting for the Loveboat (Peel session)5:00B2Schampout (extended version)5:59" peaked at No. 53, and "Breakfast×BreakfastJanuary 1985 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksA1Breakfast5:31B1Breakfast Alone5:49B2Kites5:55" turned out to be their last Top 50 hit, peaking at No. 49. "Breakfast" was also their sole showing on the Dutch Single Top 100 chart, peaking at 36.
The non-album single "Take Me to the Girl×Take Me To The Girl1985 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracksATake Me To The Girl (12" Mix)6:29B1The Girl That Took Me4:48B2Perhaps Perhaps4:16B3Take Me To The Girl (Instrumental)4:22" was also released around this time, but only made No. 95 on the UK singles chart.
In 1988, WEA/Warner rejected the band's fourth studio album The Glamour Chase×The Glamour Chase1988 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Reach the Top2Terrorbeat3You'd Be the One4Heart of Glass5Because You Love6Country Boy7Rhythm Divine8Empires of Your Heart9Set Me Up10In Windows All, considering it not commercially viable (it was later released on a two-disc set with Perhaps). However, they decided to release MacKenzie's synth-pop cover version of Blondie's 1979 single "Heart of Glass×Heart of GlassSeptember 1988 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Heart of Glass4:062Her Only Wish5:193Breakfast5:064Those First Impressions4:52" as a single and also put the track on the record label's compilation album Vaultage from the Electric Lighting Station. This track was to be MacKenzie's last release whilst under contract to WEA in the United Kingdom, as he signed to AVL/Virgin subsidiary Circa Records (still under the Associates name at this point). "Heart of Glass" was released in September 1988 on a number of formats including a twelve-inch single with an anaglyphic 3D cover (which came with 3D glasses) and a CD single. It reached number 56 on the UK singles chart.
The track was included on Popera: The Singles Collection by WEA in 1990, alongside withdrawn follow-up single "Country Boy×Country Boy1988 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Country Boy3:032Just Can't Say Goodbye (12" mix)7:193Take Me to the Girl4:244Heart of Glass (dub mix)5:03", and a version of the MacKenzie and Boris Blank song, "The Rhythm Divine".
Between 1987 and 1992, MacKenzie worked with Blank and musical partner Dieter Meier of the Swiss electronic music band Yello. MacKenzie wrote the lyrics of the song "The Rhythm Divine", which can also be found on Yello's fifth studio album, One Second, with lead vocals by the Welsh singer Shirley Bassey and MacKenzie singing backing vocals. During these years MacKenzie contributed to three Yello studio albums: One Second (1987), Flag (1988) and Baby (1991), whilst tracks for The Glamour Chase and Outernational (1992) were recorded with Blank at Yello's recording studio.

1989–1997: Circa and solo years

After his fourth studio album was rejected and "Country Boy×Country Boy1988 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Country Boy3:032Just Can't Say Goodbye (12" mix)7:193Take Me to the Girl4:244Heart of Glass (dub mix)5:03" single scrapped, MacKenzie signed to AVL/Virgin subsidiary Circa Records, to release the fifth Associates album Wild and Lonely×Wild and LonelyMarch 1990 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Fire to Ice4:362Fever4:493People We Meet4:264Just Can’t Say Goodbye5:335Calling All Around the World4:216The Glamour Chase4:567Where There’s Love4:438Something’s Got to Give4:419Strasbourg Square4:4810Ever Since That Day4:5911Wild and Lonely4:2112Fever in the Shadows7:31 (the fourth studio album to be released during Billy MacKenzie's lifetime). The album was released on 24 March 1990 and was produced by the Australian record producer Julian Mendelsohn. It peaked at No. 71 on the UK Albums Chart and had three singles×Singles26 July 2004 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 28 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Boys Keep Swinging3:422The Affectionate Punch3:293Tell Me Easter’s on Friday4:304Kites3:485Q Quarters4:566Kitchen Person3:337A3:548Message Oblique Speech4:019White Car in Germany4:5410Party Fears Two4:0811Club Country4:041218 Carat Love Affair3:4113Love Hangover4:2114Ice Cream Factory3:58Disc 21A Matter of Gender4:362Those First Impressions4:423Waiting for the Loveboat4:274Breakfast4:265Take Me to the Girl4:256Heart of Glass4:027Country Boy2:598Fever4:309Fire to Ice4:0510Waiting for the Loveboat (Slight Return)4:1811Just Can’t Say Goodbye4:0012Baby4:0613Colours Will Come4:2414Pastime Paradise3:31 charting in the lower parts of the UK singles chart with "Fever×Fever1990 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Fever4:332Groovin' With Mr. Bloe3:063Fever in the Shadows7:31", "Fire to Ice×Fire to Ice1997 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Fire to Ice (radio version)4:052Green Tambourine3:253The Glamour Chase4:544Fire to Ice (extended remix version)4:34" and "Just Can't Say Goodbye×Just Can't Say Goodbye1991 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Just Can't Say Goodbye (7" version)4:002Just Can't Say Goodbye (Time Unlimited mix)6:423Just Can't Say Goodbye (US version)4:594I'm Gonna Run Away From You4:19", peaking at numbers 81, 92 and 79 respectively. Wild and Lonely was the last album that MacKenzie recorded under the name the Associates, as from this point his releases would go out under his own name. However, recordings were sporadic and subsequent records failed to reach the UK chart and sold far fewer than their/his early albums. In 1992, MacKenzie released an electronica-influenced solo studio album, Outernational, for Circa Records with limited success.
In 1993, MacKenzie and Alan Rankine began working on new material together. News of an Associates revival generated hype and speculation of a tour, and the demos recorded by the two were promising. However, MacKenzie was not fully committed to the reunion and especially touring with it, so the Associates broke up for a final time. MacKenzie went back to his solo work, signing a recording contract with Nude Records and finding a new collaborative partner in Steve Aungle.
Rankine later became a lecturer in music at Stow College in Glasgow, and worked with the Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian on their debut studio album, Tigermilk (1996).

1997–present: Legacy releases

MacKenzie committed suicide in 1997 at age 39, shortly after the death of his mother. He had been suffering from clinical depression. He was contemplating a comeback at the time with material co-written with Aungle. The studio albums Beyond the Sun (1997) and Eurocentric (2000) were released posthumously and, in 2005, reconstructed and expanded with new unreleased songs into the two studio albums Auchtermatic and Transmission Impossible.
Before MacKenzie's death, almost all Associates records had been deleted. Former band member Michael Dempsey and the MacKenzie estate began a reissue programme to make sure the band's legacy continued, reissuing almost every Associates album, including a 25th anniversary edition of The Affectionate Punch×The Affectionate Punch1 August 1980 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1The Affectionate Punch3:30A2Amused as Always4:20A3Logan Time4:12A4Paper House4:54A5Transport to Central5:02B1A Matter of Gender4:30B2Even Dogs in the Wild3:23B3Would I… Bounce Back3:59B4Deeply Concerned3:39B5A3:57 in 2005. In addition to the original albums, two compilation albums were released: Double Hipness×Double Hipness2000 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 27 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11The Shadow of My Lung4:172Do the Call Girl4:353Not Tonight Josephine4:2842000 Years of Mental Torture4:24518 Carat Love Affair3:136Boys Keep Swinging3:437Green for Grief3:358Janice2:379Saline Drips3:2310Galaxy of Memories1:2711Mortice Lock3:2312The Affectionate Punch1:4513Big Waltz2:5014Geese2:0515Windows Shopping1:3516Double Hipness4:15Disc 21Gloomy Sunday (live)4:272I Never Will3:503Club Country4:064Waiting for the Loveboat (instrumental)4:465International Loner7:326Mama Used to Say5:527Gun Talk5:128Fear Is My Bride5:049Stephen, You're Really Something4:4410Edge of the World7:0111The End1:07 (2000), a collection of early tracks with the 1993 reunion demos; and Singles (2004), an extended version of Popera – The Singles Collection which caught up with post-1990 material and included the cover version of Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging×Boys Keep SwingingJune 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Boys Keep Swinging3:392Mona Property Girl3:22". In 2002, The Glamour Chase (recorded in the years 1985–87) was finally released as a set titled The Glamour Chase & Perhaps. Finally, Wild and Lonely and MacKenzie's solo studio album Outernational were repackaged with bonus tracks in 2006.
The Tom Doyle book The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie, first published in 1998 and reissued in 2011, documented the band's career and MacKenzie's subsequent life.
Rankine died on 3 January 2023 at the age of 64.

Legacy and influence

The Associates drew stylistically on a variety of genres, including art rock, disco, glam, minimalism, balladry and cabaret. Their music has been described as post-punk, synth-pop, new wave and experimental pop. They have been described as part of the new pop movement. The group was hailed by the likes of Björk and U2's lead vocalist Bono. Björk stated that her "love affair with the Associates started when I was fifteen [...], it was Sulk I really got into". "I really admired the way Billy used and manipulated his voice on that record". Bono said about the Associates: "We ripped them off. Billy was a great singer: I couldn't rip him off". Artists who have covered "Party Fears Two×Party Fears Two1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAParty Fears Two5:38BIt's Better This Way3:40", include the Divine Comedy, Dan Bryk, King Creosote and Heaven 17. Journalist Simon Reynolds called the group "great should-have-beens of British pop". Chris Tighe wrote that the band have "been belated acknowledged as one of the '80s' most inspired pop groups".
The Scottish crime writer and philanthropist Ian Rankin took the title of his twentieth instalment of the Inspector Rebus series for his novel, Even Dogs in the Wild (2015), from a track on The Affectionate Punch, and the song itself has a role in the story.
Upon news of Rankine's passing, the English electronic band Ladytron wrote on social media, "No Associates = No Ladytron" while saying that he was the "creator of amongst the most joyous magnificent pop music of all time."

Band members

Billy MacKenzie – lead vocals (1979–1990, 1993) (died 1997)
Alan Rankine – guitars, keyboards (1979–1982, 1993) (died 2023)
John Sweeney – drums (1979–1980)
John Murphy – drums (1980–1981) (died 2015)
Michael Dempsey – bass guitar (1980–1982)
Steve Goulding – drums (1982–1983)
Martha Ladly – keyboards, backing vocals (1982–1986)
Miffy Smith – keyboards, saxophone (1983–1984)
Martin Lowe – live guitar (1982)
Ian McIntosh – live and radio session guitar (1982–1985)
Steve Reid – guitar (1982–1984)
Roberto Soave – bass guitar (1983–1985)
Jim Russell – drums (1984)
L. Howard Hughes – keyboards (1982–1990)
Moritz von Oswald – drums, percussion (1985–1990)