The Associates

181,413 plays (17,465 listeners)

new wave, post-punk, new romantic, 80s, scottish… see all

The Associates were an 80’s post-punk/new pop duo native from Dundee, Scotland who mixed “post punk modernism with flashbacks to the stylised romance of bygone forms”.

Billy MacKenzie sang torch-songs in the tradition of Scott Walker or Jacques Brel, over multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankine’s clipped guitars and synthisized soundscapes.

Their best known hits are Take Me To The Girl http://youtube.com/watch?v=gCvXOauH6yk 18 Carat Love Affair, Club Country, Waiting for the Loveboat, Breakfast and the operatic Party Fears Two.

Tragically Billy Mackenzie committed suicide in 1997 aged 39, after suffering from depression.

Discography

The Affectionate Punch (Fiction, 1980)
Fourth Drawer Down (Fiction, 1981)
Sulk (WEA, 1982)
Perhaps (WEA, 1985)
The Glamour Chase (WEA, 1988) - but unreleased until 2003
Wild And Lonely (Circa, 1990)
Popera: The Singles Collection (WEA East West, 1990)
The Radio One Sessions (Nighttracks, 1994)
Double Hipness (V2, 2000)
The Radio One Sessions Volume One 1981-1983 (Strange Fruit, 2003)
The Radio One Sessions Volume Two 1984-1985 (Strange Fruit, 2003)
Singles (Warners, 2004)

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Videos

Top Albums

Sulk
The Associates
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The Affectionate Punch
The Associates
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Singles
The Associates
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Fourth Drawer Down
The Associates
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Top Tracks

1	Party Fears Two	224
2	Arrogance Gave Him Up	71
3	Skipping	69
4	The Affectionate Punch	67
5	No	62
6	Club Country	60
7	Bap De La Bap	49
8	A Matter Of Gender	41
9	Amused as Always	40
10	Gloomy Sunday	35
11	Even Dogs in the Wild	32
12	18 Carat Love Affair	31
13	White Car In Germany	29
13	Transport to Central	29
13	Love Hangover	29

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circles_ wrote:
7 hours ago

I have only listened to first album, but I must say they are really fantastic! I'm completly in it! xD

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zazoo999 wrote:
last week

FANTASTIC ;-)

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firengines wrote:
last month

Ahead of their time...The Affectionate Punch stands out for it's unique style, there's no Post-Punk band out there, past or present that sounds remotely close to this! If you've never heard of them listen to them now! It also stands out at the same level (or even higher?) with Crocodiles by the Bunnymen, Killimanjaro by the Teardrops, Waiting for a Miracle by Comsat Angels and Only Fun in Town of Josef K during the same year...no point of comparison tough

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MegatonShot wrote:
August 2008

Country Club is awesome.

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TweeAsFuckNight wrote:
July 2008

amen.

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ff_from_barnaul wrote:
July 2008

The Affectionate Punch is amazing!

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vinylius wrote:
July 2008

club country !! alive and kicking

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accidentcauser wrote:
July 2008

"Kitchen Person" and "Tell Me Easter's On Friday" are timeless and truly my favorites.

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morthvargr wrote:
June 2008

The song "Skipping" is one of the greatest things created by humans. That includes sliced bread and the wheel.

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ikabupini wrote:
June 2008

I don't know which side I'm on....

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girl_from_oz wrote:
June 2008

Billy Mackenzie's voice was stunning

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Tiripseerf wrote:
June 2008

Sulk is amazing.

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flashbleu wrote:
May 2008

Sulk is one the all-time greatest albums and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

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Jimbop_ wrote:
April 2008

i love party fears two

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Gyron5 wrote:
March 2008

One of the best bands ever... TTTTT

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coquinamarble wrote:
March 2008

Will pop music ever be this brilliantly fractured again? Probably not.

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fatcatmusic wrote:
March 2008

One of the best tracks of the 80s

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Chelseagirl1 wrote:
March 2008

You might also like: www.last.fm/music/Strasse

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PresidentLeever wrote:
December 2007

not mad, just right.

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rabidoveryou wrote:
December 2007

No, not mad. :P

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Recent Activity

Willie_Tanner, VeVt, fery1378 and 10 other people added The Associates to their libraries. 10 hours ago
McBoring connected The Associates to the group The Scots invented modern music!. last week
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