PWEI* – Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina

quality dub mixes - PWEI, much maligned at the time but time has subsequently been kind.

Pop Will Eat Itself always maintained their punk attitude, even when producing acid house/new beat-influenced dub tunes like Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina. Released as 'The Unofficial World Cup Theme' in Spring 1990, the tune samples football fan chants, tv speakers, a female opera singer, and features trumpet, piano, a mighty bassline, and a breakbeat at 112bpm. Only occasionally, Clint and Graham of the Poppies chant their slogan of 'Cicciolina for Italia 1990', but the tune is rather to be called an instrumental. It has stood the test of time remarkably well, and from today's perspective it can be said that Pop Will Eat Itself were on one level with acid dub pioneers Renegade Soundwave and Meat Beat Manifesto in 1990.
The Poppies have always been good at telling stories and often had vocals and samples referring to each other. This release manages to tell a lot of stories almost without vocals. The idea behind Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina is the promotion of an absurd yet earnestly presented petition for Ilona 'Cicciolina' Staller, Italian porn actress turned politician, to be the one to present the trophy to the winner of the Soccer World Cup of 1990 in Italy. The Poppies reportedly met Cicciolina and won her support for the joke; they even had her posing for the cover of the excellent remix 12", which focuses on the tune's dub/ambient elements.
The title of the tune is a variation of the title of a New Order song, Touched By The Hand Of God; the Poppies might have laughed about New Order's collaboration with the English World Cup squad in 1990, World In Motion.
The packaging of the release adds to the story. The front of my copy had two stickers on top of each other, the upper one showing the standard PWEI (Designers Republic) logo white on black with the text: Italia '90 - the unofficial World Cup theme. The original sticker underneath had the same text in green and red on white but around the official Italia '90 logo figure with a PWEI logo as its head. Obviously that was a violation of copyrights (nothing new to Pop Will Eat Itself).
The back cover states:

"THE UNITED COLOURS OF SOCCER!
Dedicated to the True Football Fans of England, Scotland, Eire, Italy, Holland, West Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Spain, USA, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, USSR, Cameroon, Columbia, Rumania, UAE, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, Costa Rica & Egypt.
Dedicated to the Sacred Belief that Cicciolina should present the World Cup Italia '90. Dedicated to the defeat of the Membership Scheme Fiasco. Dedicated to Dancing on the terraces. Just plain dedicated..."

A petition postcard addressed to the FIFA in Zurich was included with each 12". It reads:

"WORLD CUP 90 PWEI AFC
The World Cup: The God's Gift to our Sacred Sport appears just once every four years. This year, the rites are to be performed under the scorching heat of the Mediterranean Sun: the colourful spectacle involving Soccer's Greatest Gladiators that is Italia '90.
Europe vs South America, Favourites vs Underdogs and Incredi-Bull vs The Rest... who will be victorious in this, the most glittering prize in sport?
Only two things are certain, the True Football Fan will be a winner with such a feast of football fantasy and as just deserts Ilona 'Cicciolina' Staller, the attractive Italian MP, should reward the victors by presenting the Trophy personally.
The Directors, Managers, Players and Sponsors of PWEI AFC urge you to add your voice to the swelling chant that is already ringing around the world:
'Cicciolina 4 Italia '90!'
To enregister your vote, simply fill in the coupon (over), affix a suitable stamp and Post!"