Golden Skans

Album: Myths Of The Near Future (2007)
Charted: 7
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is based on J.G Ballard's book Myths Of The Near Future. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Evvo - Manchester, England
  • In 2007, Myths Of The New Future won The Mercury Prize for the best British or Irish album of the year. The judges said of the album: "Rock meets pop meets dance, the Klaxons take us on an ecstatic musical adventure." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • Jamie Reynolds (vocals/bass) was asked by the New Musical Express December 15, 2007 what he remembered about making "Golden Skans." He replied: "I remember the writing process more. We recorded it twice and did a demo of it and we realized we had to slow it down, but the writing sticks out more than anything. I remember thinking it was very clever of Madonna to steal from Abba, so I decided to steal the thing that she'd stolen from Abba from Madonna. I don't know if anyone's ever noticed but it's basically "Hung Up" by Madonna. "Golden Skans" is that song." Reynolds was then asked if he felt "Golden Skans" has taken on a life of its own. He replied: "Absolutely. You know the difference between recording a song and listening to it is completely different? I remember taking it back to my very small bedroom in New Cross and putting it on my CD player. I realized that we had a tune on our hands. Everything else had been noise up until that point, but now we actually had a pop song."
  • Myths Of The Near Future was named after a short story collection by science fiction writer JG Ballard.
  • In the same NME interview, James Righton (Co-vocals and keyboards) was asked how long it took to record the album. He replied: "From the day we began about two years ago, we pretty much started work on the album. In that first week of us getting together and playing, we'd written "Atlantic To Interzone," "Four Horsemen Of 2012," "Gravity's Rainbow" and "Golden Skans." Within that first week we'd spent every hour of the day together, going out together, going down the chip shop together. In the rehearsal studios, spending all the nights just playing and writing. It was always our intention to do things fast, we didn't want to have that couple of years incubation period that most bands have. In that same week had the title; we knew it had to be called Myths Of The Near Future. One of the ideas we had was to make it into a trilogy, although I think that's now unlikely. Once we'd figured out what we wanted to be, the rest of it came quite naturally and easily."

Comments: 1

  • Indigo from Adelaide, Australiathe first time i heard this song was when the klaxons played it live in london. it was awesome, i because i'd never heard their music before i began to listen to their other stuff, which is also really good.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins

Tom Bailey of Thompson TwinsSongwriter Interviews

Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?

Vince Clarke

Vince ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Song Cities

Song CitiesMusic Quiz

Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.