Early career:
Both Datchler and Nocito were born into musical families. Datchler's father, Fred, was a member of two chart-topping bands from the 1950s. The Stargazers had the distinction of being the first British band to reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. As part of the Polkadots, Fred Datchler sang backing vocals for The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and Petula Clark. Nocito hails from an American family based in Europe with the United States armed forces. His mother was a singer in a close-harmony group called The Cactus Kids, performing for troops throughout Northern Europe.
Having been a singer, guitarist, and keyboard player in numerous bands as a teenager, Datchler released his first single on the London independent record label, Bluebird Records at the age of 17, backed by members of reggae band Aswad. He went on to work with Rusty Egan of Visage, fusing electronic music with soul, and performed often on the London club scene. He was subsequently signed to Warner Brothers Music as a songwriter and moved to Los Angeles.
Nocito was a guitarist in school bands, having grown up alongside friend and fellow record producer Phil Thornalley, as well as members of Katrina and the Waves. He became a recording engineer and worked with Pink Floyd, The Police, The Cure, Duran Duran, and the Thompson Twins.
The two met in 1982 at RAK Studios in London. Datchler had just become the lead singer in the band Hot Club, alongside the third and final original JHJ member Calvin Hayes. The line-up also included bass player Glen Matlock and guitarist James Stevenson. In 1983, Hot Club released a single on RAK Records and performed at London's Marquee Club, a performance that impressed RAK head (and Hayes' father), Mickie Most. He decided to sign Datchler to the label as a solo artist. It was Most who suggested that Datchler works with Nocito, who was an engineer at RAK Studios at the time. Over the next four years, the two worked together on Datchler's solo recordings. Most also guided Datchler, producing several of his recordings in the mid-1980s.
Original tenure:
In April 1986, Datchler, Nocito, and Hayes released the first Johnny Hates Jazz single, "Me and My Foolish Heart", on RAK Records. It was not a commercial success, but gained substantial airplay and was Sounds magazine's record of the week.
Datchler began writing new songs, which included "Shattered Dreams." JHJ then performed a showcase at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and was subsequently signed to Virgin Records. "Shattered Dreams" was released in March 1987 and became a top-five hit in the UK throughout mainland Europe and Asia, and reached No. 2 in Japan. Three other worldwide hits, “I Don't Want to Be a Hero,“ ”Turn Back the Clock (featuring Kim Wilde on backing vocals), and “Heart of Gold” followed it. In 1988, "Shattered Dreams" reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, and climbed to No. 4 in Canada. That same year, their album, Turn Back the Clock, entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 1, selling four million copies.
At the end of 1987, JHJ made two music videos with director David Fincher. The videos were for the US releases of "Shattered Dreams" and "Heart of Gold." Datchler left the band at the end of 1988.
Hayes and Nocito continued the band and replaced Datchler with their friend Phil Thornalley, a Grammy Award-nominated engineer and record producer and a former bass player for The Cure. The new line-up released a second album, Tall Stories, in 1991. However, the album was unsuccessful and the band dissolved the next year.
Post-break-up:
Datchler moved to Amsterdam at the end of the 1980s and focused on his solo work, recording the albums Raindance and Fishing for Souls. Returning to the UK, he based himself at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios near Bath throughout the 1990s. In 2000, he moved to the US and created a solar-powered home and studio, where he recorded much of his most recent album, Tomorrow. Throughout this time, he studied the philosophy of indigenous people and became environmentally active. In 2008, he received a GreenTec Award (formerly the Clean Tech Media Awards) in Berlin.
Following the dissolution of Johnny Hates Jazz, Nocito based himself in Cambridge, England, and produced the Katrina and the Waves single "Love Shine a Light," winner of the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest and a top-10 hit throughout Europe. He also produced and wrote for Hepburn, Gina G, and Orson, and continued to work extensively with Katrina and the Waves.
New era:
Datchler and Nocito met again in 2009 after Datchler wrote a song called "Magnetized," which he felt would be ideal for Johnny Hates Jazz. Soon after, they decided to record a new album. Datchler moved back to the UK and wrote the rest of the songs for the project. At the same time, the original line-up of Datchler, Nocito, and Hayes performed live at various international festivals. However, after several shows in 2010, Hayes left the band before the recording of the new album commenced.
That same year, Datchler received a BMI award for "Shattered Dreams" in recognition of receiving over 3.2 million broadcast performances of the song in the US alone.
The subsequent album was titled Magnetized. Recording spanned much of 2011 and 2012 and took place at Real World Studios near Bath, Hamp Sound near Cambridge, and Angel Recording Studios in London. It featured Datchler as songwriter, vocalist, and keyboard player, and Nocito as producer and engineer. There were also string arrangements and additional keyboards from The Art of Noise's Anne Dudley, who had arranged the strings on "Turn Back The Clock." Other contributors included drummer Alex Reeves, guitarists David Rhodes, and Marcus Bonfanti, synthesizer player Pete Watson, and mix engineer Stephen W. Tayler.
The first single, "Magnetized," was released in the UK on 28 April 2013, and received widespread airplay, being A-listed for several weeks on BBC Radio 2. It was also released in Germany and achieved similar success on the radio there. The album was subsequently released on 5 May in the UK. However, Datchler collapsed in London shortly after this time and was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. As a result, all promotions came to halt. It was not until the following year that he made a full recovery, but by that time, the album had lost momentum, and the band decided to focus on live work instead.
Since then, they have performed extensively in the UK, as well as in Germany and Asia. In 2017, they released a remixed version of "Magnetized" in China, as well as performed live. Subsequently, they began writing and recording material for a new album. Also, Datchler has co-written eight songs with Mike Rutherford for the Mike + the Mechanics album, Let Me Fly.
As of 2020, the band released a new single called "Spirit Of Love." This new single was released on 29 May 2020 and has a few inspirations and musical roots from the 1970s during which Datchler and Nocito grew up. Also on 29 May, Wide Awake, a new album was announced in a trailer and that it would be released on 14 August 2020. This album has spent over "two years in the making," and that it contains "... a mixture of soulful melodies, uplifting lyrics, and positive energy that is present from start to finish." On 4 June 2020, a music video was released that featured fan pictures and videos of what they loved most and the band members walking around and visiting different spots in Japan.
The Last To Know
Johnny Hates Jazz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I didn't see the mask you wore
I drew it back, new round, someone new
Didn't that fall for bad
I never knew love could be like this
The bitterest taste, I got the sweetest kiss
Everybody tells me so
You can tell it to the face
You could go
First you get hurt
How can I be the last to know
I never guessed I was warned by all my friends
I didn't know you were one of a kind
And every word you told me night after night
It was all one big lie
Oh I never knew I could be so blind
You were twisting that laugh saying that you were mine
Everybody tells me so
Why do I have to be the last to know
You can tell it to the face
You could go
First you get hurt
How can I be the last to know
Oooh oh oh oh
Oh I never knew love could be like this
The bitterest taste, I got the sweetest kiss
Everybody tells me so
Why do I have to be the last to know
You can see that I might
Does my feeling show
First you get fooled
And the last to know
Yeah yeah
I always said that you were mine
It's just a game
The last to know
Someone new
Just play with me
I couldn't have been the last to know
Na-na Na-na
The lyrics of Johnny Hates Jazz's "The Last to Know" express the feeling of betrayal and deception in a romantic relationship. The singer confesses to being fooled by his partner's masks and lies, and laments that he was the last to find out about the truth. The song is loaded with irony, as the bitter experience of being played is juxtaposed with the idea of innocence as a playful game. The repeated line, "Everybody tells me so, why do I have to be the last to know" embodies the frustration of being clueless while others could see what was going on.
The song is driven by a pulsating synth-pop beat, layered with catchy hooks and harmonies. The vocals of Clark Datchler reflect a combination of vulnerability and resilience, as he vows to move on from the heartbreak despite the pain of the past. The bridge of the song is particularly powerful, as Datchler sings, "Oh, I never knew love could be like this, the bitterest taste, I got the sweetest kiss. " This lyric underscores the complicated nature of relationships and the way that love can bring both pleasure and pain.
Line by Line Meaning
Innocence is just a game you play with me
You're intentionally deceptive in our relationship, pretending to be innocent while you play games with me.
I didn't see the mask you wore
I wasn't aware of your true intentions or personality, since you were keeping them hidden from me.
I drew it back, new round, someone new
Despite my previous experiences, I opened myself up again to a new person, hoping for a different outcome.
Didn't that fall for bad
Unfortunately, that decision didn't turn out well for me in the end.
I never knew love could be like this
I was unaware that love could bring so much bitterness and pain.
The bitterest taste, I got the sweetest kiss
Even though I experienced a lot of pain, there were still some moments of happiness and pleasure in our relationship.
Everybody tells me so
Many people warned me about your true intentions, but I chose not to believe them.
Why do I have to be the last to know
I always seem to find out about important information or truths long after everyone else has already become aware of them.
You can tell it to the face
Instead of hiding your true intentions, you should have been honest and straightforward with me from the beginning.
You could go
You could have easily left my life without causing so much pain and deception.
First you get hurt
When you lie and deceive others, you'll eventually end up hurting yourself in the process.
How can I be the last to know
It's frustrating and painful to always be the last person to know the truth about important matters.
I never guessed I was warned by all my friends
Although I didn't understand it at the time, all of my friends were warning me about your true intentions the whole time.
I didn't know you were one of a kind
You weren't a unique or special person like I thought you were; you were just like every other deceptive person out there.
And every word you told me night after night
Every time we spent time together, I was just being fed more and more lies.
It was all one big lie
Our entire relationship was built on a foundation of deceit and lies.
Oh I never knew I could be so blind
I was completely unaware of how much I was being deceived and misled by you.
You were twisting that laugh saying that you were mine
You were manipulating and twisting every word and action to make me believe that you were committed to our relationship.
You can see that I might
I'm sure you already know that I'm not as naive or unobservant as I might have seemed at first.
Does my feeling show
Can't you tell that I'm very hurt and disillusioned by your deception and betrayal?
First you get fooled
When you deceive others, you might be successful in the short term, but in the long run, you'll be the one who ends up getting fooled.
And the last to know
Just like in the past, I'm the last one to find out about the truth of the matter.
Contributed by Scarlett J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.