“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.”
— Robin Scott, on Pop Muzik
Before adapting the persona of M., Robin Scott attended Croydon College with Malcolm McLaren (who would later manage the Sex Pistols) and released a folk album called Woman From The Warm Grass. Scott eventually walked away from his folk roots, turning instead to electronic music. Pop Muzik, which was written from the perspective of a DJ, was arguably the first new wave hit and this music video was extremely popular during the early years of MTV.
The video was the first to be directed by Brian Grant, who was a BBC producer at the time. Working with a £2000 budget, Grant created a video that was revolutionary for the time. (In the late 70s, music videos were mostly just straight performance clips.) The success of Pop Muzik led to Grant becoming one of the busiest music video directors around. Grant went on to direct videos for The Human League, The Fixx, Squeeze, Duran Duran, and many others. If you were a New Wave group, Brian Grant probably directed at least one video for you.
I searched but I could not find the names of the two models who appeared in this video. Does anyone reading this know?
Enjoy!