MODELS WERE A GREAT BAND TO DO LIGHTING ON. THIS SONG AND MOST OF THEIR SONGS HAD PROJECTION AND ANIMATION . I USED TO STORY BOARD THE WHOLE SHOW . JAMES AND SEAN WERE FRIENDS OF MINE AND OUT OF ALL THE AUSSIE BANDS THEY GAVE ME ALL THE LIGHTING AND FIRST ROBOTIC LIGHTING TO COME INTO AUSTRALIA . I LOVE THEIR SONG ,I HEAR MOTION. THAT SONG I USED CARTOON COG PROJECTION . I MISS MY OLD FRIENDS . R.I.P JAMES . Chris Simmons ,Showlite International
LOL., this is great, I love the way you put lyrics on it when there are only three words! (except for (International Business Machines) said in that strange deep voice. Thanks for putting this up! What a great band they were...I used to go out with a guy called Ian who used to sing Happy Birthday IAN at parties when this came on..))
@brismike65 I was grief stricken when I heard. I am also an alcholic (dry for 12 years) and his death really put me in my place more than other sad passings. It is easy to pass judgement on others and their actions. I just thought their sound changed somewhat. He wrote their bigest hits and to have hits you need to be commercial. But I have mellowed my view. I went and saw them on Oxford St a couple of months ago (original line-up) when they supported a book review (wtf).
@tatunkha it's clearly about THE IBM - the one I work for :-) Listen to where the lyric says 'International Business Machines' at 2:57 I loved this band and used to see them live all over Sydney. i have the forst two albums on vinyl and CD now too.
Baggage aside, Models and all the stuff that was seething around Darlinghurst and Bondi, in the early 80's, was, in retrospect, astonishing...even the Evil Star, at Slurry Hills was pretty good, with Distant Locust and The Good Chamber..a case of; 'you had to be there'...rest with the rest James F
Bondi Lifesavers (aka the Swap), Stranded, Hopetoun Hotel, the Piccadilly and the Civic and numerous others when pubs had bands and nobody got thumped by some drunken goose on alcohol and 'roids
Great track, lots of good memories listening to this on 4ZZZ and seeing the models at a Joint Effort at Uni of Qld. Does anyone know the origins of this one? Why IBM? Is it a pisstake about a large corporation or just a pop song?
Why would it not be about IBM? They are singing to the machine. I like the band because they sang to the machine. Do you not see the irony of singing "Happy Birthday" to the machine? I think that's what it's about.
Can you PLEASE send me Strategic Air Command, Drive And Reflex and Drunk At Home if you have them? I have been looking all over for them but I can't find one place to even purchase the albums here In Canada let alone listen to them...
![Models - 'Happy Birthday IBM' [1980 track with lyrics]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
