Classic Album Rewind: Matt Edwards Remembers Fischerspooner’s #1
In the ongoing Classic Album Rewind series, some of our favorite producers discuss a classic dance album that influenced their lives and career.
For the dance music industry, the dawn of the ‘00s was a time of massive upheaval. With a significant downturn in audience, best exemplified by the worldwide dearth of failed millennium parties, it was clear that the house and techno scenes that had risen from the ecstatic rave culture of the early ‘90s had gone from Technicolor utopian dreams to flaccid club fodder in a decade. To bring the edge back to dance music, many veteran DJs began to dig back in their crates to the ‘80s New Wave and euro-disco sounds that had inspired them 15 years earlier. Meanwhile, a new generation of acts, rebelling against the status quo in clubland, took those same cues to new levels of glammy artifact and cheeky camp.
The most notable of these acts was Fischerspooner—the NYC duo of classically trained musician Warren Fischer and visual artist Casey Spooner—whose first single, “Emerge,” became one of the defining tracks of what would soon be labeled the “electroclash” sound. The song was so big that it hit #1 in the UK and across Europe. The pair’s debut album, cynically titled #1, became the center of a bidding war that would culminate with the record being licensed by Ministry of Sound and Capitol Records for a legendary $1 million. It would reach #92 in the UK and fail to chart in the US, making it one of the most notorious flops in dance music history.
At the time, Matt Edwards was living in Brighton and starting up his Radio Slave project with then partner Serge Santiágo. The pair would be recruited by Ministry to remix “Emerge” on one of the 31 (yep, 31) different versions of the release that came out between 2000 and 2003. We asked Edwards—now based in Berlin and celebrating 10 years of running his acclaimed Rekids label—to recount his own experience in the electroclash phenomenon on the 15th anniversary of #1’s initial release.
—
I was working for an event company called Vapour. We also did some events at Fabric, which had just opened. There was this feeling that people were getting bored with the current sound. Lots of Erick Morillo remixes, and stuff like that. Suddenly, out of nowhere popped this genre of flamboyant electronic bands.
Felix da Housecat played for us. He was playing Italo disco tracks and new wave. We had Theo Parrish around the same time, and he played Giorgio Moroder’s “I Wanna Rock You” and Gino Soccio’s “The Dancer.” There was this move away from soulful house to a much more European edge—arpeggiated basslines, mid-‘80s proto-house era.
It went full steam from there into what became electroclash, and Fischerspooner was one of the biggest acts. They made it on Top of the Pops. Their performance was “press play” before that was a thing, but at the same time, there was also a shift to live acts, which led to LCD Soundsystem. People wanted personality; they wanted songs. More of a gritty, rock, leather-jacket vibe crept in. It was an exciting time for guys in rock bands, musicians, wanting to get involved with electronic music. It gave them a platform to express themselves that hadn’t been there five years before.
I could never work out if Fischerspooner was all tongue in cheek, or if it was serious. I’ve never gotten to work out whether it was real or it wasn’t. I’m really fascinated by pop art—artists like Jeff Koons. I love Jeff Koons, but there is that element that is so polished, and it’s just about money. Fischerspooner reminded me of these kinds of artists. I can’t recall another track after “Emerge.” It was a short shock treatment. I remember it being really difficult to remix. I remember the parts being really bad.
It’s one of those records that, by the time Ministry of Sound had it, it was already done. The song was so memorable, but it was so hyped. I think everyone was bored by the time it was released again. It hit the saturation point.
I’m not sure today, if you’re 14 or 15, if it seems things are becoming conservative again. The people at the top have become complacent. Kids are looking for connection. So, maybe something like Fischerspooner will happen again.
As told to Joshua Glazer. Illustrations by Natalie Foss.
