SOFT CELL

Originally recorded a decade before the explosion of acid house and rooted in predominantly black NYC, Chicago and Detroit gay clubs, 'Memorabilia' is a seminal early prelude to rave culture.

Merging a strutting disco bass line with a futuristic proto acid-techno beat, Marc Almond has past described 'Memorabilia' as “the first acid house techno record ever”. The birth point of ecstasy in British music is usually credited to acid house and the second summer of love: a cemented vision of kids sweating and vibrating in clubs, fields and warehouses in 1988, united by universal empathy and mind-popping sounds. However, in 1981, a couple of young men from Leeds went to New York, discovered the drug in its infancy, fused its’ gritty synth pop to acid house’s squelchy 303 groove and recorded an album: Soft Cell’s 'Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret'. The rest, as they say, is history. Shortly before that, Soft Cell’s debut single 'Memorabilia' was born.