Pop Muzik - Concept and Chart Performance

Concept and Chart Performance

Robin Scott describes the genesis of "Pop Muzik" this way:

I was looking to make a fusion of various styles which somehow would summarise the last 25 years of pop music. It was a deliberate point I was trying to make. Whereas rock and roll had created a generation gap, disco was bringing people together on an enormous scale. That's why I really wanted to make a simple, bland statement, which was, 'All we're talking about basically (is) pop music.

The single was released in the UK first, peaking at number 2 on 12 May 1979, unable to break Art Garfunkel's 6-week stint at number 1 with "Bright Eyes". In August of that same year, it was released in North America, where it eventually climbed all the way to number one in Canada on 27 October and in the U.S. on 3 November.

Along with Scott, other musicians who played on the track were his brother Julian Scott (on bass), then unknown keyboardist Wally Badarou, Canadian synthesiser programmer John Lewis (who died of AIDS in 1985) and Brigit Novik, the backing vocalist.

The single was bolstered by a promotional video that was well received. The clip featured Scott as a DJ singing into a microphone from behind an exaggerated turntable setup, at times flanked by two female models who sang and danced in a robotic manner. One of the sight gags in the video depicted Brigit Novik dressed in blue who actually recorded the backup vocals which are then mimed by the models.

The single's B-side, "M Factor", was featured in two different versions. The original cut appeared on the first UK and European releases of the single, while a slightly remixed version appeared on the single released in the United States and Canada.

The image of the baby on "Pop Muzik"'s single disc pictures Robin Scott's daughter, named Berenice, who is now a singer and piano/keyboard player and composer and involved with his father's friend Phil Gould and Wally Badarou projects.