Dolby promoted himself as a kind of mad scientist, an egghead that had successfully harnessed the power of synthesizers and samplers, using them to make catchy pop and electro-funk. Before he launched his solo career, Dolby had already worked as a studio musician, technician, and songwriter. After starting out as a teenaged live sound man, mixing The Fall, The Members and others using a PA he built himself, he formed the arty post-punk band Camera Club (also known as Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club) with Bruce Woolley, Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn and Matthew Seligman. Within a year, he had left the group and joined Lene Lovich’s backing band and gave her his song "New Toy", which became a British hit in 1981. That same year, he released his first solo single, "Urges", on the English independent label Armageddon. By the autumn, he had signed with Parlophone and released "Europa and the Pirate Twins", which nearly cracked the UK Top 40.
Dolby started playing synthesizer on sessions for other artists in 1982. That year, he played keyboards on Def Leppard’s Pyromania and Joan Armatrading’s Walk Under Ladders. His most distinctive session credit is that keyboard line after the chorus on Foreigner’s "Waiting for a Girl Like You". In that eventful summer, Dolby also collaborating with New York rappers Whodini to create "Magic’s Wand" – a pivotal early hip hop track (the first rap single to shift 1 million copies), and it also single-handedly started the new jack swing movement.
Even with all of these achievements, 1982 was most noteworthy for the release of Dolby’s first solo album, The Golden Age of Wireless, in the summer of 1982, the landmark album reaching number 13. "Windpower", the first single from the record, became his first Top 40 UK hit in the late summer. Other cuts from the album include "The Airwaves", and "One of Our Submarines", a meditation on the futility of empire.
In January of 1983, Dolby released an EP, Blinded by Science, which includes what would become his most well-known track, "She Blinded Me with Science" featuring a cameo vocal appearance by the notorious British eccentric Magnus Pike, who also appeared in the song’s video. "She Blinded Me with Science" was a minor hit in England, but the EP and the single became a major American hit in 1983, thanks to MTV’s heavy airplay of the video. Eventually, the song reached number five on the US charts and it was included on a resequenced and reissued version of The Golden Age of Wireless, which peaked at number 13 in America.
The Flat Earth, Dolby's second album, appeared in early 1984, and harkens back to a time when songs mattered more than the video, even as MTV was discovering its strength. Opening with "Dissidents", conjuring up images of blacklisted authors and ugly snow, gray from oppression, with Matthew Seligman’s bass at the fore, lavish, growling, popping through octaves, funk-a-fied and twinkling with harmonics throughout the album. The title track is an R&B daydream of piano and Motown stabs of rhythm guitar. "Screen Kiss" has a similarly ethereal quality, and the lyrics are lush with imagery. The cover of Dan Hicks’ 1967 "I Scare Myself" is a balmy jazz club cocktail – faithfully nostalgic, right down to a bittersweet trombone solo from Peter Thomas. "Hyperactive" is one part bizarre to two parts infectious; guest vocalist Adele Bertei fuels the fire to what was already destined to be a memorable diversion beyond the reach of Top 40. The single became Thomas’ biggest UK hit, peaking at number 17.
During 1985, Dolby collaborated with artists including Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield and Herbie Hancock; and notched up some more high-concept production credits. George Clinton's Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends, Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen, and Joni Mitchell’s Dog Eat Dog were all midwifed by Dolby, who also was musical director for David Bowie at Live Aid. Also in 1985, he began composing film scores, starting with Fever Pitch. In 1986, he composed the scores for Gothic and Howard the Duck, for which he credited himself as Dolby's Cube. (That credit led to a lawsuit from the Dolby Labs, who eventually prohibited the musician from using the name "Dolby" in conjunction with any other name than "Thomas.")
Aliens Ate My Buick, Dolby's long-delayed third album, appeared in 1988 to a mixed reaction, although "Airhead" became a minor British hit. That same year, Dolby married actress Kathleen Beller. For the rest of the late 80s and early 90s, Dolby continued to score films, producing and building his own computer equipment.
1992’s Astronauts and Heretics, features guest stars such as Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Ofra Haza. The album opens with "I Love You Goodbye", one of Thomas’ most evocative songs, and ends with "Beauty of a Dream" which is also a contender for that honour. Highlights found inbetween include "Cruel" (a duet with Fairground Attraction’s Eddie Reader), "I Live in a Suitcase" and "Close But No Cigar".
The following year, Dolby founded the computer software company Headspace in Silicon Valley, releasing The Virtual String Quartet as its first program, and also pioneered technology for music on mobile phones. For the rest of the 90s, Headspace occupied most of Dolby's time and energy. In 1994, he released The Gate to the Mind’s Eye, a soundtrack to the animated short film Mind’s Eye. Also that year, Capitol released the greatest-hits collection, Retrospectacle.
Thirteen years after Astronauts and Heretics, Dolby returned to live performance in 2006 with his solo Sole Inhabitant tour, which covered North America and the UK, with Thomas recreating the highlights of his earlier work from scratch, with a camera mounted like a miner’s lamp on his head, and a big screen showing the view from the artist, turning what would be a fairly dull one-man-and-a-rack-of-synths into a fascinating audio visual experience and an unintended masterclass for music technology students.
UK indie label Invisible Hands Music released a CD and DVD box set recorded on the Sole Inhabitant tour. These fresh and modern reinterpretations of Thomas’ work to date precedes a new studio album due in 2008, which is as-yet untitled, but does include a song about Britney’s ex Kevin Federline (“K-Fed”) who used an uncleared sample from "She Blinded Me with Science" and did not respond to legal approaches until a ‘cease-and-desist’ was posted in the comments field of his MySpace page. That song is called "My Karma Hit Your Dogma", and bodes well for a mighty return to form, combining Thomas’ humour and intelligence with a unique musical vision.
2011 saw Dolby get busy by returning with a new studio album A Map of the Floating City on 29 October. The album is broken down into three genres of Urbanoia's tales of city experiences; Amerikana as Dolby's take on his years living in America and it's roots music; and Oceanea: songs of life by the sea in his home country of England. The music was debuted first as download EPs to Dolby's online community and then previewed by a transmedia interactive game also called the FloatingCity.com.
Thomas Dolby is taking the music back on tour as a solo artist and with varying line-ups of bands, doing two tours of the UK in 2011, and has his first trip to Australia in February 2012 followed by dates in Japan. In March Dolby kicks off the Time-Capsule.tv tour at the SxSW Festival in Austin playing dates in USA and Canada through April. He will have a trailer parked at venues on his tour where you can produce a 30 second video offering words of wisdom to whoever will be walking the earth in the future. Dolby wants to give people a chance to “explain to an alien visitor what went wrong with our civilization. Our species may not be around on this planet much longer, so you might as well leave a welcome message for the next guys.”
Commercial Breakup
Thomas Dolby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I take my head and I stuff it in the tube
I find something I can use
But there's no credit where credit is due
It cost me ten dollars
And in thirty seconds it's so clear
And I adhere - I'm only humanoid
"Hey Franz!" they're calling up to me
"We're living, we're living through the breakup,
commercial breakup, here it comes again."
Well just today you told me,
You told me 'bout the way it is
I walk on out and make me a few small purchases.
What was that name you called me?
What was that grin you grinned?
An expression so uncertain
that breaks a line so thin?
Now that 2D beckons - the colour is high
it seems so ripe - don't touch the line hold
Something has dropped me in the heat again
"Hey Franz!" they're calling up to me
"We're living, we're living through the breakup,
commercial breakup, here it comes again."
The song "Commercial Breakup" by Thomas Dolby, from his album "The Golden Age of Wireless," is a commentary on the alienation and dehumanization associated with consumer culture and commercial advertising. The song describes the experience of someone turning to television as a way of escaping the stresses of reality, only to find themselves bombarded with advertisements and feeling like nothing more than a "humanoid" to be exploited for profit. The singer struggles to find meaning and connection in a world where everything seems to be for sale and personal relationships are reduced to transactions.
The first verse depicts the singer sitting at home, seeking solace in the television, but finding only more confusion and disorientation. The use of the word "tube" to describe the television suggests a sense of being trapped or suffocated, while the mention of the cost of the program and the lack of credit for its creators highlights the commodification of culture and the lack of respect for artistic labor. The image of a "bright" night and "smooth" transmission creates a sense of eerie artificiality, as if the world outside is not quite real. The chorus finds the singer being taunted by voices outside, urging him to "live through the breakup," a phrase that suggests the ongoing fragmentation and breakdown of society as a result of the pressures of consumerism.
The second verse continues this theme of confusion and disconnection, as the singer goes out into the world to try to make sense of things. The mention of small purchases and uncertain expressions highlights the sense of being adrift in a sea of meaningless products and interactions. The reference to 2D and high colors suggests a cartoonish or artificial world, while the warning not to "touch the line" emphasizes the fragility and danger of the situation. The second chorus repeats the taunting voices from outside, who seem to take pleasure in the singer's misery and alienation. Overall, the song offers a bleak commentary on modern life and the ways in which consumerism can erode human connections and individual identity.
Line by Line Meaning
Night so bright - transmission smooth
The night is illuminated and everything is running smoothly.
I take my head and I stuff it in the tube
I immerse myself into the world of media and entertainment.
I find something I can use
I come across something that I can benefit from.
But there's no credit where credit is due
The creators of the product are not given enough recognition or praise.
It cost me ten dollars
I had to pay a high price for it.
And in thirty seconds it's so clear
The message is conveyed in a very short amount of time and is easily understood.
And I adhere - I'm only humanoid
I follow and abide by what is presented to me, as if I am not capable of anything else.
Oh man - they're waving from the street again
People are trying to get my attention and lure me into the world of consumerism once again.
"Hey Franz!" they're calling up to me
People are addressing me, trying to get me to engage with them.
"We're living, we're living through the breakup, commercial breakup, here it comes again."
We are all experiencing the constant bombardment of commercialism and it is becoming difficult to escape.
Well just today you told me,
You recently informed me of something.
You told me 'bout the way it is
You explained to me how things really are.
I walk on out and make me a few small purchases.
I go out and buy a few things, just like everyone else.
What was that name you called me?
What was the label or category you put me into?
What was that grin you grinned?
What was that smug smile on your face?
An expression so uncertain that breaks a line so thin?
The uncertain expression on your face makes me question everything that is presented to me.
Now that 2D beckons - the colour is high
The world of two-dimensional media is enticing and the visual appeal is strong.
it seems so ripe - don't touch the line hold
The experience seems perfect, but it is important to not get too attached or invested in it.
Something has dropped me in the heat again
I have been pulled back into the intensity of consumerism.
"Hey Franz!" they're calling up to me
People are once again trying to get me to become a part of the consumer culture.
"We're living, we're living through the breakup, commercial breakup, here it comes again."
The constant saturation of commercialism is causing us to feel overwhelmed and unable to escape its grasp.
Contributed by Lila S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.