Ghosts (Japan song)

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"Ghosts"
Single by Japan
from the album Tin Drum
B-side "The Art of Parties" (Version)
Released March 1982
Format 7" and 12" vinyl
Recorded 1981
Genre Synthpop, art pop[1]
Length 3:55
Label Virgin
Writer(s) David Sylvian
Producer(s)
Japan singles chronology
"Visions of China"
(1981)
"Ghosts"
(1982)
"Cantonese Boy"
(1982)
Alternative cover
12" single.

"Ghosts" was a single by the British band Japan from the 1981 album Tin Drum.

Release

It reached number five in the UK Singles Chart in 1982. Although it was their biggest hit, this was not enough to stop the band splitting a few months later.

Bereft of drums, the minimalist track would not be described as a "commercially viable" single in most circumstances. However, Japan's popularity at the time, in addition to the early 1980s fashion for new wave music, allowed the single to become unexpectedly popular. The band performed the song on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1982.[2]

In 2000 David Sylvian re-recorded "Ghosts" using the original Japan backing track and included it on his compilation Everything and Nothing.

In popular culture

A cover of "Ghosts" is available on the song list for the dance game DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX.

The song was played in episode six in the BBC series of Ashes to Ashes, a spin-off of Life on Mars, and, since April 2008, it has been used in the trailers for another BBC series, Waking the Dead.

The song's lyric provides the title for theorist Mark Fisher's 2014 critical work Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures.

The song appeared on the 2006 DJ mix album "Late Night Tales: Air".[3]

Deftones covered this song as an iTunes exclusive for their album Diamond Eyes.

The song is also featured in the 2008 Norwegian film The Man Who Loved Yngve.

Ghosts has been sampled by:

Track listings

  • 7" VS472, 7" picture disc VSY72, 12" VS47212

Side A:

  • "Ghosts" (single mix) - 3:55

Side B:

  • "The Art of Parties" ("Version" - live) - 5:18

References

  1. Allmusic Amy Hanson review for the GhostsTrack
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