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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name = Age of Chance|background = group_or_band|origin = Leeds , England |genre = Alternative rock Electronic dance music |years_active = 1985& ndash;1991|label = Riot Bible FON Virgin Records|Virgin |past_members = Steven Elvidge Geoff Taylor Neil Howson Jan Perry Noel "DJ Powercut" Watson Charles Hutchinson Age of Chance were a United Kingdom|British alternative rock - Dance music|dance crossover band from Leeds , England active from 1985 to 1991. They were perhaps most known for their mutant metallic cover version|cover of Prince (musician)|Prince 's " Kiss (song)|Kiss " which topped the UK Indie Chart in 1986, and peaked at #50 in the UK Singles Chart in January the following year.& Albums">cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 16 Despite signing for major label Virgin Records|Virgin , and being favourites with the UK music press, they never enjoyed a major Hit record|hit in the United Kingdom|UK , although "Don't Get Mad… Get Even" reached #5 in the United States|US Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs|Hot Dance/Club Play record chart|chart .History page on the ageofchanceinfo.co.uk website, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gavinmorrow/history.htm
Musically they were a sonic collisionClarify|date=June 2011 of punk music|punk , hip hop music|hip hop , industrial music|industrial rock and Northern soul . Steven E provided a distinctive strident nasal vocal style, often employing a megaphone . Striking cover art visuals were a collaboration between the group and The Designers Republic , who would go on to graphic design fame. They were contemporaries of Pop Will Eat Itself , whose music also featured rock guitar, dance beats and copious samples, and other early UK samplist groups such asColdcut and The JAMMs .
History
The band first came to national attention in 1985, when their debut Single (music)|single , "Motorcity/ Everlasting Yeah" released on their own label, Riot Bible, was picked up and championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ , John Peel . A session followed, recorded at Maida vale studios and four songs, "Going, Going Gone Man, "Mob Hut", "The Morning After the Sixties" and "I Don't Know and I Don't Care" were recorded. "I Don't Know.." was re-recorded for Gunfire and Pianos , a compilation album released by Zigzag magazine.
They released their second self-funded single, "Bible of the Beats" / "Liquid Jungle" in January 1986, which led to an invitation to contribute a track, "From Now On, This Will Be Your God" on the NME C86 (music)|C86 compilation tape. The band made their London debut at the ICA Rock week in July 1986. A second Peel session was recorded in June 1986, with "Be Fast, Be Clean, Be Cheap", "From Now On, This Will be Your God, "Kiss" and "How the West was Won". "Kiss" was recorded for the John Peel session while the Prince single was still in the charts.
The band then signed to the Sheffield independent record label , Fon, for "Kiss" and its remix 12"s and six track mini-LP CrushCollision . "Kiss" was #2 in the Festive 50 for 1986.Entry on the BBC John Peel bands website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/artists/a/ageofchance/
The band signed to Virgin in January 1987, and embarked on a nationwide UK tour. The recorded a Janice Long session comprising "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Noise", "Hold On" and "Bible of the Motorcity Beats." They began recording their first single for Virgin with producer Howard Gray: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Noise/Big Bad Rap" and then started their first Virgin album, One Thousand Years of Trouble . A second single "Don't Get Mad, Get Even" was released in October, followed by the album. In 1988, Channel 4 began using "Don't Get Mad..." as the music for the American Football programme, which ran over the next three years. The band began recording their second Virgin album in the summer at Rockfield Studios|Rockfield in Wales.
Original singer Steven-E left in September 1988,press release for Times Up, http://www.ireallylovemusic.co.uk/aoc/press.htm during the recording of their second LP, forcing the rest of the band to recruit a new singer, Charles Hutchinson, in January 1989, and "re-vocal" the LP, which was released as Mecca in 1990. The main single from that collection, "Higher Than Heaven" reached #53 in the UK ,& Albums"/> despite being voted "record of the week" by BBC Radio 1's breakfast show listeners. When Hutchinson left, Perry took on vocal duties briefly before the band split in 1991.
Cover art
A strong visual identity was developed by the band, from their clothes (notably featuring cycling tops) to their cover art. The first singles had a punk like cut-up graphic design produced by the band featuring slogans and mini-manifestos. "Stay Young!& #33; Say Yeah!& #33; Call Each Other Bay-Beah!!" "You CAN live forever with the Age of Chance". The slogans and visual imagery were passed to The Designers Republic who produced a series of classic cover designs for the Kiss releases and the series of 1987 Virgin releases. The sleeve of ''Don't Get Mad ... Get Even'' was one of QMagazine 's 100 Best Record Covers Of All Time (2001), with the citation describing the collaborations as "Too intricate to rightfully exist in the pre-desktop publishing age, the sleeves were edgy, loaded, with menacing visual manifestos adorned with slogans ... alongside bar codes, cruise missiles and (first woman in space)Valentina Tereshkova's face."QMagazine 's 100 Best Record Covers Of All Time (2001), http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gavinmorrow/interview%20(Q%20mag%20special).htm Designer Ian Anderson recalled that "The way they were presented was very much as a philosophy; it was a punk attitude crossed with disco styling, that asked questions to get a reaction. Once the vocabulary was set, the sleeves almost designed themselves. We may have done the designs, but the language was created by the band."
"The Twilight World of Sonic Disco EP" (collecting first 2 7" singles, 1986)
"Kiss" (1986) (UK Indie #1) (re-issued 1987) UK #50cite book |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |title=The Great Alternative & Indie Discography |year= 1999 |publisher=Canongate |isbn=0-86241-913-1
"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Noise" (1987)
"Don't Get Mad ... Get Even" (1987)
"Take It!" (1988)
"Time's Up" (1989)
"Higher Than Heaven" (1990)
"Playing With Fire" (1990)
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.ageofchanceinfo.co.uk/ major fan site
http://www.ageofchance.com/ another fan site
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Age+Of+Chance listing on discogs.com
DEFAULTSORT:Age Of Chance Category:Music in Leeds Category:English alternative rock groups Category:Musical groups established in 1985 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Category:British rock music groups
