Over their career, the group has been very influential on American electropop and freestyle artists from both their music and their strident, colorful visuals, being best known for their 1988 self-titled album. The band was formed in Minneapolis in the early 80s, and they performed avant-garde electronic music with flourishes of hip-hop. In 1983, they independently released two albums, 'The InSoc EP' and 'Creatures Of Influence'. Two years later, they released "Running", their first single, which became a hit popular in New York City's Latino nightclubs and "put them on the map". That song, a 7-minute effort that touched on contemporary techno, was written and sung by Murat Konar, who left the band soon after. Their growing success led them from their native Minneapolis to NYC, and the ensuing revenues and contacts, as well as the addition of Amanda Kramer to the lineup, led them to record their proper debut album.
Their first major release album. 1988's 'Information Society', received critical acclaim, giving the group breakout commercial success as the album hiked up to #25 on the Billboard 200. In addition to "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (which hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart), the album also had other hits in "Walking Away" (#9 on that chart) and a cover of ABBA's "Lay All Your Love On Me" (#12 on the Hot Dance Music chart). The disc was one of the few to use CD+G, which included digital graphics on the compact disc version in addition to the music. The audio samples from Star Trek were authorized for use on the album partially thanks to the efforts of Adam Nimoy, a fan of the band and son of Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy.
The second release, Hack (1990), wasn't as successful, but had small hits with Think and How Long but still managed to sell quite well in the fall of 1990.
Kurt was also the owner of the heavily-modified The Road Warrior-inspired art car named "Vector" featured on the cover of Hack. The car sported a functioning ranging laser, among other unusual features. Vector was eventually given to a friend at Burning Man in the mid-1990s.
The third release, Peace & Love, Inc. (1992), proved to be more powerful and critically acclaimed, although their label failed to do much to promote them. Their first single Peace & Love, Inc. reached #1 on the 'Billboard Dance Chart'. A music video was produced for the track, but MTV declined to play it. The album is also notable for being perhaps the first album ever produced to contain a track of modem tones, which when played into a telephone connected to a computer resulted in a bonus text message from the band.
The fourth album, Don't Be Afraid (1997), written and performed by Kurt Harland alone and produced by Steven Seibold, was more industrial-driven. Cleopatra Records released the album, but - like Tommy Boy Records - did little to promote it. Harland's love of computer-related materials continued to be evident, as the album included a CD-ROM filled with bonus material, not yet a common occurrence in 1997.
There was also a carefully-orchestrated digital scavenger hunt culminating in the discovery of a bonus track called White Roses. The scavenger hunt began with decoding a modem's signal recorded at the end of the audio CD, resulting in a text message from Kurt which pointed the way to a website where the search began. There is also a cover included of Gary Numan's Are 'Friends' Electric?. Also included is Ozar Midrashim, a track which was later used as the main theme for the videogame Legacy of Kain - Soul Reaver.
During the course of those four albums and about a dozen remix singles from them, Information Society's sound went from more electronic pop music to a darker industrial type, though they will always be remembered for their first hit song and the cardboard guitars they wielded in its music video.
However, in 2006 Paul Robb and James Cassidy announced their intention to re-form Information Society, and began working on a new album. They also performed live at several venues across the US with Christopher Anton as lead vocalist. The Ep "Oscillator" was released in early 2007 followed by the album Synthesizer in late 2007. Christopher Anton provided the vocals on Oscillator, and Synthesizer and was the co-writer on several of the tracks as well.
http://informationsociety.us/
What's on Your Mind
Information Society Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Looking round without a clue
I find myself along again
All alone with you
I can see behind your eyes
The things that I don't know
If you hide away from me
How can our love grow
I wanna know
What you're thinking
There are some things you can't hide
I wanna know
What you're feeling
Tell me what's on your mind
I know I could break you down
But what good would it do
I could surely never know
That what you say is true
Here I am in silence
It's a game I have to play
You and I in silence
With nothing else to say
I wanna know
What you're thinking
There are some things you can't hide
I wanna know
What you're feeling
Tell me what's on your mind
I wanna know
What you're thinking
There are some things you can't hide
I wanna know
What you're feeling
Tell me what's on your mind
I wanna know
What you're thinking
There are some things you can't hide
I wanna know
What you're feeling
Tell me what's on your mind
The song "What's on Your Mind" by Information Society speaks of the desire to understand one's partner and the frustration that can arise when faced with silence and hidden emotions. The singer finds himself alone with his partner and unable to understand the thoughts and feelings behind their outward appearance. He can see the things he doesn't know in their eyes, and wonders how their love can grow if they continue to hide things from each other.
The chorus of the song expresses the singer's longing to know what his partner is thinking and feeling, and the impossibility of hiding certain things. He acknowledges that he could break his partner down and force them to reveal their true feelings, but recognizes that this would not do any good. The two of them are trapped in a game of silence, with nothing else left to say.
Overall, the song expresses the difficulty of communication in relationships and the importance of being open and honest with your partner. Without understanding each other's thoughts and feelings, love cannot grow and the relationship will remain stagnant.
Line by Line Meaning
Here I am in silence
I am sitting here quietly
Looking round without a clue
I am searching for answers, but I do not have any idea where to start
I find myself along again
I am alone again
All alone with you
I am alone, even though you are right here with me
I can see behind your eyes
I can tell that there is something you are not saying
The things that I don't know
There are things about you that I am not aware of
If you hide away from me
If you keep your true feelings hidden from me
How can our love grow
Our relationship will not improve if we are unable to communicate honestly
I wanna know
I am curious
What you're thinking
I want to understand what is going through your mind
There are some things you can't hide
There are certain thoughts and emotions that cannot be concealed
What you're feeling
I want to know your emotions
Tell me what's on your mind
Speak your thoughts aloud to me
I know I could break you down
I am aware that I could weaken your emotional defenses
But what good would it do
However, I am not sure if that would be beneficial in any way
I could surely never know
I am uncertain if I will ever understand
That what you say is true
If you tell me your true thoughts
It's a game I have to play
This is a situation in which I am obligated to interact with you, even if it is difficult
You and I in silence
We are both present, but neither of us is speaking
With nothing else to say
We have exhausted all of our talking points
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KURT LARSON, PAUL JASON ROBB
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@instanthellmurderer
Who listening in 2023?
@ralphchunksoup4234
Ive always like good music
@juanbadbreedracinggarcia6608
I do😁👍🏻💯
@renaeharris5111
Love it, even today at 55
@561ENTERPRISE
This Guy.
@liqwidskye
Me!
@colorchaser
I have a theory about the 80s: It's like the top of the rollercoaster where songwriting and technology converged for the first time. The result was this explosion of creativity. Access to drums machines by Roger Linn and others + sampling technology like the Emu and Akai. To me the 80's are the absolute apex of human musical freedom. For the first time we were allowed to make the music in our heads and it was glorious. For that brief moment, it made human life more colorful and alive in ways that we're still trying to re-create.
@CBlargh
I think you're right. There were synthetic sounds prior to the 80's, but they really stand out, like Giorgio Moroder/Donna Summer and of course Kraftwerk. It wasn't until the beginning of the decade that people really started experimenting with it... and now, it's just so ubiquitous, kids don't even know there was a different way of doing things once.
@JohnSmith-ys4nl
@@CBlargh And now AI will be making all music soon. No humans needed.
@CBlargh
@@JohnSmith-ys4nl Don't get me started on AI... It's way worse than many people realise. o_O