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.”
Pulp Culture
Thomas Dolby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Looking at the stars
First I ate my Milky Way
And then I ate my Mars
But sucking on a Galaxy
I noticed something pretty bizarre
There's not a lot of people there,
Just an awful lot of cars, check it out
Stale pulp culture take it away
True pulp culture help to redefine it
Old pulp culture day upon day
Young pulp culture serve to undermine it
Sham pulp culture buried in time
True pulp culture there to be plundered
Same pulp culture year upon year
Hey! pulp culture live to be a hundred
Shake off that thing, you gotten used to it
Here is one you won't want to parlay
In a small round cruel scum brown brat shack dumb world
So squeeze a little tear from your body
Another dozen unchained!
Stale pulp culture take it away
New pulp culture help to undermine it
Old pulp culture day upon day
Young pulp culture serve to redefine it
Sham pulp culture buried in time
True pulp culture there to be plundered
Same pulp culture year upon year
Hey! pulp culture live to be a hundred
If a child ever rose on the wings of a dove
Or the claws of a vulture
Then a man ain't a man when he don't understand
Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah
Pulp culture, pulp culture, pulp culture, pulp culture
Do you really love me girl ?
I think I know but I want to be sure
You tell it to me all night long
Still I want to hear it some more
You tell me in the bathroom babe
And you tell me back in the hall
You tell me on the kitchen table
And up agains the wall, what it is
So check beneath your fingernails
In between your toes
Right between your earlobes darling
That's where culture grows
It's breeding in your short and curlies
Ready to expand
From the heart of Poison City out over televisionland
With a gun
The song "Pulp Culture" by Thomas Dolby is a commentary on America's emphasis on the superficial aspects of culture, particularly in Hollywood. The first verse depicts Dolby driving around the city, snacking on candy bars, and noticing that despite the abundance of cars, there aren't many people around. This highlights how the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry can overshadow the reality of people's lives, making it seem like a façade.
The chorus features the phrase "stale pulp culture" and contrasts it with "true pulp culture," suggesting that there is a more authentic and meaningful cultural heritage that is being overlooked or subverted. The verse that follows expands upon this idea, saying that old pulp culture is being undermined by the youth, and fake pulp culture is buried in time. The final chorus suggests that this cycle of culture repeating itself will continue endlessly, and that true pulp culture will be there to be plundered if people are willing to look beneath the surface.
The final verse, which begins with the lines "If a child ever rose on the wings of a dove / Or the claws of a vulture," speaks to the idea that genuine artistic expressions can be found in unexpected places and should be valued. The final lines of the song, "Do you really love me girl? / I think I know but I want to be sure," further suggest that genuine human connections can also be lost amongst the superficiality of Hollywood and its culture.
Overall, "Pulp Culture" is a critique of American society's obsession with fame and superficiality, and encourages listeners to look beyond the surface to find something more meaningful.
Line by Line Meaning
I drove all over Hollywood
I traveled extensively in Hollywood.
Looking at the stars
While traveling, I was looking at the stars.
First I ate my Milky Way
I consumed a candy bar named Milky Way.
And then I ate my Mars
I consumed a candy bar named Mars.
But sucking on a Galaxy
While attempting to consume a Galaxy bar, I observed something odd.
I noticed something pretty bizarre
I came across something strange.
There's not a lot of people there, Just an awful lot of cars
There are fewer people compared to the number of cars in Hollywood.
check it out
Have a look yourself.
Stale pulp culture take it away
Let's discard outdated pulp culture.
True pulp culture help to redefine it
Let's create a more authentic and modern pulp culture.
Old pulp culture day upon day
The old pulp culture continues to exist and thrive.
Young pulp culture serve to undermine it
A newer, younger genre of pulp culture competes with and challenges the old one.
Sham pulp culture buried in time
Unauthentic pulp culture will eventually disappear.
True pulp culture there to be plundered
Real pulp culture is waiting to be discovered and explored.
Same pulp culture year upon year
Pulp culture generally remains unchanged over long periods.
Hey! pulp culture live to be a hundred
Pulp culture can continue to exist and retain relevance even after many years.
Shake off that thing, you gotten used to it
Stop doing the things that you are used to doing.
Here is one you won't want to parlay
Try something different that you may not initially be interested in.
In a small round cruel scum brown brat shack dumb world
The world can be an unpleasant and grubby place.
So squeeze a little tear from your body
It's okay to show some emotion and cry.
Another dozen unchained!
Many more things can be changed and improved.
New pulp culture help to undermine it
Modern pulp culture aims to challenge and replace the old one.
Young pulp culture serve to redefine it
A younger generation defines and changes the nature of pulp culture.
Do you really love me girl ?
Is your affection for me true?
I think I know but I want to be sure
I am almost certain, but I desire confirmation.
You tell it to me all night long
You express your love for me frequently and intensely.
Still I want to hear it some more
However, I still yearn for more of your expressions of love.
You tell me in the bathroom babe
You even express your love to me in the bathroom.
And you tell me back in the hall
Even in the hallway, you tell me how you feel.
You tell me on the kitchen table
Our kitchen table too, is a place where you express your love for me.
And up agains the wall, what it is
This includes moments when we are up against the wall.
So check beneath your fingernails
Look closer and more carefully.
In between your toes
In places where you may not expect it.
Right between your earlobes darling
Even right between your earlobes, where one might think is private.
That's where culture grows
Culture also takes root in the most surprising places.
It's breeding in your short and curlies
Culture can also grow in more private places.
Ready to expand
It can expand and grow if given the chance.
From the heart of Poison City out over televisionland
This is how culture spreads, from a small corner to the masses through television.
Do you really love me girl?
Is your affection for me true?
I think I know but I want to be sure
I am almost certain, but I desire confirmation.
You tell it to me all night long
You express your love for me frequently and intensely.
Still, I want to hear it some more
However, I still yearn for more of your expressions of love.
Pulp culture, pulp culture, pulp culture, pulp culture
Culture is everywhere.
If a child ever rose on the wings of a dove
If there was a child with pure intentions and pure motivations.
Or the claws of a vulture
Or even if there was a child with more sinister motives.
Then a man ain't a man when he don't understand
If a man cannot understand and raise that child properly, he is not a man.
Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah
This is a nod to the fact that sometimes we must accept things as they are.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Cockney Red
that bassline is absolutely spot on and sends chills,fantastic.
Tom Giles
I've always loved the bass (Terry Jackson, RIP) on this tune, "Air Head," & "Hot Sauce." So full, crisp & clear.
Ricktpt1
A vastly underrated album. A bright spot from the '80's.
Tinkaluisa
I remember when I first (belatedly) found out about this album. I was already a Dolby fan, but was living in a small town and had missed out on this one. A music-loving friend told me this was Dolby's best album. I had a music store order it for me on cassette -- this was about 1990 -- and just fell in love with it. I played this song over and over and over! Still love it! Not sure I love this album more than "The Golden Age of Wireless," but hey, having both is proof positive that there are many wonderful things in this world for us to enjoy!
RYKARD
This album is a classic
Sabian the Omnivore
Always top of my list of imaginative artists.. He's talented and has a sense of humour..
Jamie Donoghue
This track is what inspired me to put my guitar on a stand and pick up the bass.Decades ago.
Joe Karmazyn
One of the best songs I've come across all year so far.
Arik אריק Shahar שחר
Love that album it's groovy and well done.I have seen him in concert back in the late 80s and it was great
DarthClam
Possibly the most powerful bassline I have ever heard.