B-side "Hack Attack" Format 7"
12" Length 3:49 | Released February 1986 Genre New wave
synthpop Label Parlophone | |
"Love Missile F1-11" is a song by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik released in March 1986 as the first single from their debut album Flaunt It. It was the band's biggest hit, reaching no. 3 on the UK Singles Chart.
Contents
Style
The bass line, repeated on their follow-up single "21st Century Boy", is similar to both Devo's earlier "Girl U Want", and Suicide's 1977 track "Rocket USA". The song features vocals with high echo and uses multiple sound effects to create a futuristic atmosphere. It begins with a sample from Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange where Malcolm McDowell's character Alex, professes his fondness for a bit "of the old ultra-violence".
Cover versions
David Bowie covered the song as an outtake during the sessions for his 2003 album, Reality. It was then released as a B-side for the single "New Killer Star". Pop Will Eat Itself released a cover of the song as a single in May 1987, before including it on the Box Frenzy LP in 1988. Thermopyle released a cover version as a CD single in 1998. There is also an electronic version remixed by WestBam released on a single in 2000. The Stone Roses also used to occasionally cover "Love Missile F1-11" at some of their earlier concerts.
Video
The music video features many shots of a futuristic city and references The Terminator, Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner and Scarface. The video is primarily set in a future war; the band are depicted as soldiers armed with weapons and space ships. In some countries, the video censors a scene in which the members of the group installs a silencer on a MAC-10 (which is censored with a censor bar over the gun), and fires it later in the video (which is censored with stock war footage), due to it being deemed as an "Instruction in the Use of a Firearm".
Popular culture
An extended version of the song was used in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A version of the song is featured in the South Park episode Super Fun Time, with Eric Cartman singing along "I'm having a super fun time". The song also features in the trailer for the film Stretch.