Art of Noise -- Legs

I've been a fan of the Art of Noise since their breakthrough hit early in the 1980s, "Beat Box".

All those amazing samples with the voices and the smashing percussive beats....I couldn't help but be mesmerized. Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley and the rest of the Art of Noise were approachable and avant-garde at the same time.

OK, I'm a big fan of this British New Wave/synthpop group. How does this chime in with this blog? Well, for one thing, a couple of Art of Noise's tunes actually made it across the Pacific to be used in a couple of variety shows. One was the band's cover of the old "Dragnet" theme (I did get my copy of the 12" remix as you can see above) which was used in one segment of the Tunnels' comedy hour on Thursdays which involved a parody of the "Kamen Rider" series, and an excerpt of the song introduced the chief villain.

The other song was longer lasting. It happened to be the strangely titled "Legs" which came out in 1985, but in Japan, it was simply known as the theme song for the magician Mr. Marikku（Mr.マリック）, the mysterious conjurer who had his 15 minutes of fame during the late 1980s into the 1990s.

The music video didn't make it onto the regular rotation of music videos as far as I could remember. I think it was probably saved for the late night programs such as the local Toronto version "City Limits" which always had the more bizarre stuff. But for those who have a leg fetish, this video is your all-you-can-eat buffet.

However, as much as I like all of those songs by the Art of Noise, I have saved my particular love for the one and only "Peter Gunn" from 1986. I specifically kept the radio on at certain times so that I could heart that one. Perhaps by that point, AON were no longer quite so avant-garde, but man was their stuff still catchy!