Paul Hardcastle ‎– 19

Yeah but c'mon! 23 wouldn't sound as good as 19. And 19 wouldn't be 19 now would it?

What's done is done.

There is a promo copy to this spanish maxi version, showing the british maxicover
Paul Hardcastle - 19 with print "SUPERSINGLE 45 R.P.M." and having a slightly varied label
saying "Disco Promocional - Prohibida Su Venta"

Now I would have never known that! I think this is a great look at electronic music production technique from a time well before sampling became the de facto norm for any type of electronic music. This came along at a time when the sampling aspect of music was mainly coloring and flavor, and not so much the very fabric of the tune as was the case after around '96 or so. What I mean by that, broadly, is that most of the music was in fact, laboriously written, programmed, and executed on real hardware machines and not just sampled off of existing tracks via software and a computer, uh, and the internet. That alone is why I love this track. The samples do get to be cheesy over a period of dozens of repeated listenings, but that is a singular opinion on the matter and not a criticism of the song. The music is great, the samples are the only thing that may cloud this tune - but, they in fact also made the tune, so where do you go from there?

Controversy or none, this is a standout track in terms of production clarity and if analog synths are your tune, you will like it for sure. Especially that minimoog-flavored bass.

The 1985 release of "19", a dance record from the british keybord Wizard Paul Hardcastle, featuring
stuttering samples of a ABC television interview with Peter Thomas speaking about Vietnam war veterans
suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Initially unhappy about having his voice used in this way,
Peter Thomas relented and allowed the single to be released. A number one hit for Chrysalis Records
in the United Kingdom.

"19" was supposed to be the average age of the soldiers during this Vietnam War. Very young in comparison
with the age of 26 during World War II. Later on, some statistics told us that the real average age of the vietnam
soldier was 23. A mistake by ABC television during the interview.

Mike Oldfield claimed that a melodic element of "19" had been copied from a sequence of his multi-million
selling concept album "Tubular Bells", and a settlement was made. Simon Fuller, who was his manager at
the time of "19"'s release would later adopt the song title for his company, 19 Management.

The song won an "Ivor Novello award" for the best selling single of 1985. Rory Bremner parodied this song
later on in 1985, based on the England Cricket team's poor performance in the 1984 Test series against the
West Indies. Released under "The Commentators", Bremner's version, entitled "N-N-Nineteen Not Out!" made
No.13 in the UK, three months after Harcastle's version. The parody was based on the fact that the English
batsmens' average runs per head in each innings was a paltry 19, compared to the 35 they averaged in 1968.
Against the record company's wishes, Paul Hardcastle actually contributed to this remake!

A song with some controverses, but a real catchy, original & great record!

Paul Hardcastle's 19 is a great record that is completely surrounded in controversy that serves to increase the popularity of the record, and also tarnish its image. The criticism of this record, as good as the production is, is deserved however.

The average age of a Vietnam soldier according to KIA statstics was not 19. Statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993 indicate the average age of the 58,148 U.S. soliders killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. It can be blamed on Hardcastle for using the "nineteen" spoken sample from ABC's Vietnam Requiem documentary, but most of the blame though should be placed on ABC for not correctly fact checking their sources and claiming falsely the age of the average combat solider to have been 19, when in fact it was closer to 23.

But what can be critiqued about this record is that the spoken sample's from ABC's Vietnam Requiem documentary were used without permission by Hardcastle. Mike Oldfield also sued and won a settlement with Hardcastle when Oldfield charged that Hardcastle had stolen melodic elements of the famous Tubular Bells release of Oldfields for the song 19.

So two samples were used without permission for this record, and the entire basis for the record (19) was an inaccurate basis to begin with. A great and classic electronic record, but controversial nevertheless.

An instant classic which drew me instantly to electronic music in the first place, I remember this hearing for the first time at a friends place who had an older brother DJ’ing... Never heard anything like that before. We just didn't have acces to that kind of music at that time, the charts were full with cheesy artists, and then there it was: a bit dark and heavy basslines with a sinister voice over. Shivers down your spine!, and this is the feeling I still have today when I’m listening to this real beauty. Recommended food for the ears (and for the brain to, "19" was the average age of combat soldiers in the Vietnam War).

In an interview, Paul Hardcastle stated the only reason '19' sounds as it does is because even top-of-the-range samplers at the time could only handle a second or twos worth of sound.
Nineteen, nineteen, ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen.