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Dexys Midnight Runners

Band formed in Birmingham, England

Disbanded in 1986

Dexys Midnight Runners's Genre:

New Wave, Punk/New Wave, Alternative/Indie Rock, Blue-Eyed Soul, Post-Punk, Soul, R&B

Biography

Dexys Midnight Runners are best known in America as one of new wave's ultimate one-hit wonders, thanks to their 1982 number one smash "Come on Eileen," a distinctive fusion of '80s pop, Celtic folk, and blue-eyed soul. In the U.K., however, they earned a fair amount of critical acclaim and made a greater impression on the public consciousness with their frequent changes in sound, wardrobe, and personnel.

Dexys were formed in 1978 by singer/guitarist/songwriter Kevin Rowland and singer/guitarist Kevin "Al" Archer (who changed his first name to avoid confusion). Both had been members of the Birmingham, England, punk band the Killjoys, and Rowland, who was ethnically Irish, had split his childhood between London, Ireland, and Birmingham, and soaked up the influence of Irish folk and the so-called Northern soul music popular in the Midlands. Seeking a new direction, Rowland and Archer decided to put together a full-fledged soul outfit and named it after the stimulant Dexedrine, a popular drug on the Northern soul scene (despite the strict no-drinking-or-drugs policy Rowland later imposed on the band). The lineup eventually settled on trombonist Big Jim Paterson, tenor saxophonist Geoff Blythe, alto saxophonist Steve "Babyface" Spooner, keyboardist Mick Talbot (who replaced Pete Saunders, was once a member of the Merton Parkas and later joined the Style Council), bassist Pete Williams, and drummer Andy "Stoker" Growcott (who replaced Bobby Junior). Acutely image-conscious, Rowland tried to reflect the band's working-class roots by dressing them as New York dockworkers, with a wardrobe lifted straight from the Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro film Mean Streets. The band struggled financially at first, especially given its large membership, and according to legend, Rowland organized (or at least encouraged) shoplifting expeditions to make ends meet.

Dexys didn't take long to release their first single; "Dance Stance" (aka "Burn It Down"), an attack on anti-Irish discrimination, appeared on EMI in 1979, but only scraped the lower reaches of the charts. However, their next single, "Geno," a tribute to American-born soul singer Geno Washington (who'd made his career in the U.K.), went all the way to the top of the British charts in early 1980. Dissatisfied with their share of the profits, the band stole the completed master tapes of their debut album, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, and successfully reworked their deal. When the album was released later in 1980, it caused a sensation. With their bright, tuneful, horn-heavy take on Memphis soul (which predated Paul Weller's similar transformation of the Jam), Dexys were hailed as British rock's return to an organic, soulful sound in the post-punk/new wave era. Their third single, "There There My Dear," became a Top Ten hit, but Rowland insisted on following it with the inadvisable single choice of "Keep It, Pt. 2," which flopped. This was the last straw for most of the band, who had grown tired of Rowland's control-freak leadership and restlessness. Archer left to form the Blue Ox Babes, and most of the rest of the group wound up in the Bureau, leaving only trombonist Paterson with Rowland.

Rowland and Paterson regrouped Dexys, adding guitarist/banjoist Kevin "Billy" Adams (again renamed), drummer Seb Shelton (ex-Secret Affair), keyboardist Mickey Billingham, alto saxophonist Brian Maurice, tenor saxophonist Paul Speare, and bassist Giorgio Kilkenny (who replaced Steve Wynne). After the 1981 single "Plan B" (which featured a new wardrobe of boxing boots and ponytails), the new lineup left EMI and signed to Mercury. Their first single for the label, "Show Me," became a Top 20 hit, but the follow-up, "Liars A to E," flopped, and Rowland considered modifying the group's approach. Allegedly, he heard a demo tape of Archer's folk-influenced Blue Ox Babes material, and decided to reinvent Dexys in a similar fashion. He infuriated the Babes by not only borrowing from their sound, but recruiting violinist Helen O'Hara out of their lineup; he also added Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff on the same instrument. The second Dexys album, Too-Rye-Ay, was released in 1982, and while their soul sound was still easily audible, it was now sitting alongside a strong Irish folk influence, making for a striking hybrid. The makeover was accompanied by yet another wardrobe change, this time to a scruffy gypsy/hobo image that wound up changing the standard of acceptable dress at many a restrictive London club. Dexys introduced their new sound on the single "The Celtic Soulbrothers," which was a mild success; however, the follow-up, "Come on Eileen," was a smash, becoming their second British number one. A few months later, helped along by the group's highly visual, MTV-ready appeal, "Come on Eileen" broke in America and went all the way to number one there as well. With their new folky direction thus established, the entire horn section (even the loyal Paterson) departed in the summer of 1982, as did keyboardist Billingham. Unfortunately, at the peak of the group's success, the rest of the lineup proved unstable as well, due in part to rifts with Rowland; eventually, the core of the group was whittled down to Rowland, guitarist Adams, and violinist O'Hara.

Rowland took Dexys to New York to work on the follow-up album, which -- slowed by his perfectionism -- took a year and a half to record. In the meantime, EMI released the singles compilation Geno in 1983. Paterson rejoined the group when Rowland decided to blend his soul and folk phases more thoroughly, and the rest of the instrumentation was filled out by hired session musicians. When Don't Stand Me Down was finally released in 1985, Rowland insisted that no singles were to be pulled from the album, wanting it to stand as a cohesive piece of work in the manner of '70s LPs. As a result, it sold much more poorly than expected and wasn't helped by lackluster reviews that slammed Rowland's attempts at Van Morrison-esque poetry. After a few weeks, a panicked Mercury -- who'd spent quite a bit of money to make the record -- released "This Is What She's Like" as a single, but the damage was already done. One last single, "Because of You," charted in 1986 after being used as the theme to a British TV show, but with Don't Stand Me Down having bombed, the group disbanded. Rowland mounted a solo career and returned in 1988 with The Wanderer, a mellow record flavored with country and lounge-pop, which failed to sell. A disheartened Rowland spent the next few years in a deep depression, fighting off bankruptcy and cocaine addiction. In 1996, he signed with Creation as a solo artist, but in typically idiosyncratic fashion, his comeback effort was an all-covers album; My Beauty was released in 1999 and sold abominably, probably not helped by Rowland's new wardrobe of dresses and suspenders.

After a couple years spent living down the album, Rowland returned with a new edition of Dexys Midnight Runners, with the stripped down name Dexys, in 2003. The new line-up began playing live shows and contributed two new songs ("Manhood" and "My Life in England") to the greatest-hits collection Let's Make This Precious. The group, which included former Runners Mick Talbot and Pete Williams, began recording in earnest in 2005 but the painstaking processes didn't yield results until the release of One Day I'm Going to Soar in 2012. Along the way, another former member, "Big" Jim Paterson, joined back up, and Rowland added new vocalist Madeleine Hyland, as well. The album was met with positive response from critics and signaled a triumphant comeback for the band. ~ Steve Huey

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Dexys Midnight Runners

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like a-ha, Tears for Fears, Eurythmics, Men Without Hats, Men at Work, Duran Duran, INXS, Simple Minds, The Police, The B-52's and more.

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Dexys Midnight Runners's Selected Discography (19)

Artists Related to Dexys Midnight Runners (50)

	a-ha	Pal Waaktaar and Magne Furuholmen, formerly of Bridges formed a-ha in the early '80s. Morten Harket joined the duo, and they left for the now "legendary London flat" (so called because of its state of disrepair) to make it.
	Tears for Fears	Tears for Fears were always more ambitious than the average synth pop group. From the beginning, the duo of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were tackling big subjects -- their very name derived from Arthur Janov's primal scream therapy, and his theories were evident throughout their debut, The Hurting.
	Eurythmics	Eurythmics were one of the most successful duos to emerge in the early '80s. Where most of their British synth pop contemporaries disappeared from the charts as soon as new wave faded away in 1984, Eurythmics continued to have hits until the end of the decade, making vocalist Annie Lennox a star in her own right, as well as establishing instrumentalist Dave Stewart as a successful, savvy producer and songwriter.
	Men Without Hats	The new wave synth pop collective Men Without Hats were formed in 1980 by brothers Ivan and Stefan Doroschuk.
	Men at Work	Men at Work were one of the more surprising success stories of the new wave era, rocketing out of Australia in 1982 to become the most successful artist of the year.
	Duran Duran	Duran Duran personified new wave for much of the mainstream audience. And for good reason, too. Duran Duran's reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion-model looks and glamorous sense of style.
	INXS	INXS hailed from the pubs of Australia, which is part of the reason the band never comfortably fit in with new wave.
	Simple Minds	Best known in the U.S. for their 1985 number one hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from the film The Breakfast Club, Scotland's Simple Minds evolved from a post-punk art rock band influenced by Roxy Music into a grand, epic-sounding pop band along the lines of U2.
	The Police	Nominally, the Police were punk rock, but that's only in the loosest sense of the term. The trio's nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky, but it wasn't necessarily punk.
	The B-52's	The first of many acts to cement the college town of Athens, GA, as a hotbed of alternative music, the B-52's took their name from the Southern slang for the mile-high bouffant wigs sported by singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, a look emblematic of the band's campy, thrift-store aesthetic.
	The Human League	Synth pop's first international superstars, the Human League were among the earliest and most innovative bands to break into the pop mainstream on a wave of synthesizers and electronic rhythms, their marriage of infectious melodies and state-of-the-art technology proving enormously influential on countless acts following in their wake.
	A Flock of Seagulls	As well-known for their bizarrely teased haircuts as their hit single "I Ran (So Far Away)," A Flock of Seagulls were one of the infamous one-hit wonders of the new wave era.
	Modern English	The summery hooks and warm lyrics of Modern English's biggest hit, "I Melt With You," gave listeners the impression that the band was an upbeat pop act in the early '80s.
	Soft Cell	Art students Marc Almond and Dave Ball formed Soft Cell, a synth pop duo famed for its uniquely sleazy electronic sound, in Leeds, England in 1980.
	The Go-Go's	The Go-Go's were the most popular all-female band to emerge from the punk/new wave explosion of the late '70s and early '80s, becoming one of the first commercially successful female groups that wasn't controlled by male producers or managers.
	Fine Young Cannibals	When the Beat (known as the English Beat in the U.S. only) split in 1983, it came as a surprise to guitarist Dave Cox and bassist David Steele.
	Thompson Twins	The Thompson Twins -- who were neither a duo nor related, but simply named after the Tin Tin cartoon -- were one of the more popular synth pop groups of the early MTV era, scoring a handful of hits before fading away into lite-funk obscurity.
	Culture Club	Few new wave groups were as popular as Culture Club. During the early '80s, the group racked up seven straight Top Ten hits in the U.
	Big Country	With their ringing, bagpipe-like guitars and the anthemic songs of frontman Stuart Adamson, Scotland's Big Country emerged as one of the most distinctive and promising new rock bands of the early '80s, scoring a major hit with their debut album, The Crossing; though the group's critical and commercial fortunes dimmed in the years to follow, they nevertheless outlasted virtually all of their contemporaries, releasing new material into the next century.
	Blondie	Blondie was the most commercially successful band to emerge from the much-vaunted punk/new wave movement of the late '70s.
	Adam Ant	One of the seminal figures of new wave, Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) had several distinct phases to his career.
	Frankie Goes To Hollywood	On the back of an enormous publicity campaign, Frankie Goes to Hollywood dominated British music in 1984.
	Talking Heads	At the start of their career, Talking Heads were all nervous energy, detached emotion, and subdued minimalism.
	Spandau Ballet	As one of the leading New Romantic bands, Spandau Ballet racked up a number of British hits -- as well as one Top Ten American hit, "True" -- during the early '80s, becoming one of the most successful groups to emerge during the new wave.
	Bananarama	The most successful British girl group in pop history, Bananarama formed in London in late 1981. Drawing equal inspiration for their name from the children's television program The Banana Splits and the Roxy Music song "Pyjamarama," the trio was comprised of lifelong friends Keren Woodward and Sarah Dallin along with Siobhan Fahey, whom Dallin befriended at the London College of Fashion.
	Madness	Along with the Specials, Madness were one of the leading bands of the ska revival of the late '70s and early '80s.
	Naked Eyes	A key presence in the synth pop movement of the early '80s, Naked Eyes formed in Britain in 1981. Comprised of former schoolmates Pete Byrne (vocals) and Rob Fisher (keyboards), the duo debuted in March 1983 with the LP Burning Bridges, reissued in the U.
	Depeche Mode	Originally a product of Britain's new romantic movement, Depeche Mode went on to become the quintessential electro-pop band of the 1980s.
	Falco	Falco was the most internationally successful pop artist ever to come out of Austria, best known for his 1986 chart-topping hit "Rock Me Amadeus.
	The Cars	Blondie may have had a string of number one hits and Talking Heads may have won the hearts of the critics, but the Cars were the most successful American new wave band to emerge in the late '70s.
	Devo	One of new wave's most innovative and (for a time) successful bands, Devo was also perhaps one of its most misunderstood.
	Bangles	The Bangles combined the chiming riffs and catchy melodies of British Invasion guitar pop with a hint of the energy of new wave.
	Pet Shop Boys	Postmodern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, Pet Shop Boys established themselves among the most commercially and critically successful groups of their era with cheeky, smart, and utterly danceable music.
	Thomas Dolby	Though he never had many hits, Thomas Dolby became one of the most recognizable figures of the synth pop movement of early-'80s new wave.
	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Featuring the core members Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey, the Liverpudlian synth pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark formed in the late '70s.
	The Pretenders	Over the years, the Pretenders became a vehicle for guitarist/vocalist Chrissie Hynde's songwriting, yet it was a full-fledged band when it was formed in the late '70s.
	Peter Gabriel	As the leader of Genesis in the early '70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality.
	Berlin	This Los Angeles-based synth pop group, founded by bassist John Crawford, singer Terri Nunn, and keyboard player David Diamond, made its first national impression with the provocative single "Sex (I'm A.
	Crowded House	An institution in their homeland, a two-hit wonder in the U.S., and, during the last half of their ten-year career, bona fide stars in the U.
	The Romantics	Such power pop founders as the Raspberries and Big Star may have been woefully underappreciated during their initial run in the early '70s, but by the end of the decade, several of their offspring had taken the style to the upper reaches of the charts -- including Cheap Trick, the Knack, and the Romantics.
	Cyndi Lauper	Cyndi Lauper was one of the biggest stars of the early MTV era, selling five million copies of her debut album, She's So Unusual, as well as scoring a string of four Top Ten hits from the record, including the major hits "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time.
	The Cure	Out of all the bands that emerged in the immediate aftermath of punk rock in the late '70s, few were as enduring and popular as the Cure.
	U2	Through a combination of zealous righteousness and post-punk experimentalism, U2 became one of the most popular rock & roll bands of the '80s.
	The Fixx	A London-based new wave group that managed to sustain a successful career in America for several years in the mid-'80s, the Fixx always flirted with the mainstream with their catchy, keyboard-driven pop.
	R.E.M.	R.E.M. marked the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe," was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground.
	Wang Chung	The London-based new wave group Wang Chung had a handful of hits in the mid-'80s, achieving their greatest popularity in the U.
	Kajagoogoo	Kajagoogoo's light synth pop and pretty, photogenic look made the group an instant sensation in the early days of MTV.
	The Clash	The Sex Pistols may have been the first British punk rock band, but the Clash were the definitive British punk rockers.
	Buggles	As the answer to the trivia question "What was the first act ever played on MTV?," the Buggles assured their place in pop music history.
	'Til Tuesday	Remembered for their lone hit single "Voices Carry," 'Til Tuesday gradually evolved from a new wave pop band into a vehicle for the songwriting of Aimee Mann.

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Top Songs by Dexys Midnight Runners (50)

Come on Eileen

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