"Warriors of the Wasteland"
Single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
from the album Liverpool
B-side"Warriors (Of the Wasteland)"
Released10 November 1986 (1986-11-10)
Genre
Length3:55 (Twelve Wild Disciples Remix)

4:55 (Album Version)

9:45 (Extended)
LabelZTT – ZTAS 25
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Stephen Lipson
Frankie Goes to Hollywood singles chronology
"Rage Hard"
(1986)		 "Warriors of the Wasteland"
(1986)		 "Watching the Wildlife"
(1987)

"Warriors of the Wasteland" is the sixth single by English pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released on 10 November 1986. It was taken from the album Liverpool. Having already referenced literary poets such as Coleridge in "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" and Thomas in "Rage Hard", for "Warriors of the Wasteland" Holly Johnson turned to T. S. Eliot for inspiration. Johnson cited Eliot's The Waste Land poem, the 1981 Mel Gibson film, Mad Max 2, and the 1979 film, The Warriors as inspirations.

The single remix of the song is different in contrast to the album version. The album version is longer, has a extended atmospheric intro which hits a more aggressive hard rock tone with heavy drums and prominent guitar riffs, while the single version has a more dance groove with a punchy bass line and glossy synths. The remix was made by Trevor Horn, who produced their earliest releases.

By the time "Warriors of the Wasteland" was released, interest in the Liverpool album had all but waned. It only reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart (making it the group's first UK hit not to go Top Five), #7 in Germany (for two weeks) and #13 in Switzerland. Frankie Goes to Hollywood would not release new music as the band would split up in 1987.

Critical reception

On its release, James Brown of Sounds described "Warriors of the Wasteland" as a "predictable piece of rock junk" which he believed showed how Frankie Goes to Hollywood had become "appallingly tame and useless" and "so bloody obviously boring that they have resorted to making competent rock records".[1] Billboard said of it that "art-rock megaproduction waxes critical of society's inequalities."[2]

Track listings

All discographical information pertains to UK releases only unless noted.

7"
ZTT / ZTAS 25
  1. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Twelve Wild Disciples mix edit) – 3:55
  2. "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" – 5:00
  • The single version (A-side) is a remix by Trevor Horn, recreated digitally using samples and synths. The AA-side is the album version, with the spoken intro to "Rage Hard" tagged onto the end. The titles were swapped on most overseas releases, thus causing confusion on most fansites.
12"
ZTT / 12 ZTAS 25
  1. "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples mix) – 9:45
  2. "Warriors" (instrumental) [unlisted] – 4:50
  3. "Warriors" (return) – 1:22
  4. "Warriors" (end) – 3:29
  • As with many ZTT releases, unlisted tracks have created confusion as to which track has which title. "Warriors" (return) can be taken to be the full 6:12 instrumental track, or just the 1:22 reprise. The 2014 digital reissue labelled both pieces as "Warriors" (return).
  • "Warriors" (end) began life as an unreleased track called "Pocket Vibrator".
  • On the sleeve notes to this release, producer Trevor Horn noted: "On Liverpool the members of Frankie Goes to Hollywood played "Warriors" with their own notoriously fair hands ... This so-called 12" is in fact a total cheat ... No-one played anything, in any orthodox sense. It was all done by computers, very powerful computers ... juggling and organising pre-recorded sounds."
12"
ZTT / 12 ZTAX 25
  1. "Warriors" (Turn of the Knife mix) – 8:09
  2. "Warriors" (instrumental) [unlisted] – 4:50
  3. "Warriors" (return) – 1:22
  4. "Warriors" (end) – 3:29
"Warriors" (Turn of the Knife mix)
12"
ZTT / 12 ZTAK 25

"Heavy Mental"

  1. "Warriors" (attack mix) – 6:30
  2. "Warriors" (instrumental) [unlisted] – 4:50
  3. "Warriors" (return) – 1:22
  4. "Warriors" (end) – 3:29
  • The "Attack" mix featured additional guitar parts by Gary Moore. A 7" edited version of this track also exists on white label.
12"
Island / 0-96799 United States
  1. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Twelve Wild Disciples mix) – 9:42
  2. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Turn of the Knife mix) – 8:11
A white label release of "Warriors" (attack)
CD
ZTT / ZCID 25

"Warriors" (compacted)

  1. "Warriors" (introduction) – 2:25
  2. "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples mix) – 9:45
  3. "Warriors of the Wasteland" [fewer lyrics] – 5:02
  4. "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" – 3:57
  5. "Warriors" (Monopoly Re-solution) ['rats in a cage'] – 2:21
  • The CD is one track without a title list, and the titles above are for convenience of reference, apart from "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples) and "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)".
  • "Introduction" starts with various vocal sounds, then sped-up samples re-edited, then slowed down samples, moving into what sounds like the "return" mix and some re-edited instrumental bits.
  • "Twelve Wild Disciples" is the first 12" mix – a reconstructed version with additional keyboards.
  • The "fewer lyrics" version is the album version with verse lyrics missing.
  • "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" sounds similar to Twelve Wild Disciples, but a 7" edit.
  • "Monopoly Re-solution" is a stand-alone track.

"Warriors" (compacted) was re-released on the Sexmix compilation in 2012.

MC
ZTT / CTIS 25

"Warriors" (cassetted)

  1. "A Matter of Life and Death" – 0:04
  2. "Warriors of the Wasteland" [instrumental] – 2:59
  3. "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" [7" version] – 3:09
  4. "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples) [instrumental] – 8:32
  5. "we're rats" [various noises from 'Introduced'] – 0:43
  6. "Warriors" [excerpts from 'Return'] – 1:27
  7. "Warriors" (Monopoly Re-solution) ['rats in a cage'] – 3:03
  • As with the CD single, no individual tracks are listed on the sleeve, which simply states "... featuring Warriors (Twelve Wild Disciples mix) and a phenomenon of megabytes". The latter phrase, which does not specifically refer to any tracks in the cassette, is a ZTT coinage meaning "remix" or "collection of remixes" (i.e. remix album), and as such it was also used as a subtitle for The Art of the 12", a 2011 2-CD release featuring a selection of classic ZTT remixes, two more volumes of which followed in 2012 and 2014.
  • The opening voiceover and the instrumental version of the "Twelve Wild Disciples" mix were unique to this cassette, until CTIS25 was finally released on CD in 2011 as part of the Liverpool deluxe edition.
Digital download
ZTT
  1. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (7" A-side) – 5:02
  2. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Twelve Wild Disciples mix) – 9:45
  3. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Turn of the Knife mix) – 8:10
  4. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Attack mix) – 6:32
  5. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (return) – 6:18
  6. "Warriors of the Wasteland" (end) – 3:36
  7. "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" (7" B-side) – 3:56
  • Track 1 is actually the "fewer lyrics" version.

Charts

Chart (1986–1987) Peak
position
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[3] 23
France (IFOP)[4] 50
Ireland (IRMA)[5] 12
Italy (Musica e dischi)[6] 24
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[7] 36
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[8] 26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[9] 30
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[10] 13
UK Singles (OCC)[11] 19
West Germany (Official German Charts)[12] 7

References

  1. ↑ Brown, James. "Performance: Singles". Sounds. No. 20/27 December 1986. p. 37.
  2. ↑ "Reviews". Billboard. 20 December 1986. p. 65. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  3. ↑ Timo (13 August 2015). "Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1960: Artistit FIS - FRA". Sisältää hitin. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "InfoDisc : Les Tubes de chaque artiste commençant par F". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Warriors of the Wasteland". Irish Singles Chart.
  6. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Frankie Goes To Hollywood".
  7. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Frankie Goes to Hollywood" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  8. ↑ "Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Warriors of the Wasteland" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  9. ↑ "Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Warriors of the Wasteland". Top 40 Singles.
  10. ↑ "Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Warriors of the Wasteland". Swiss Singles Chart.
  11. ↑ "Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  12. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Warriors of the Wasteland" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
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