Computer Love

Album: Computer World (1981)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • The subject matter of this song, looking for romance via the computer, is a remarkable prediction of the future as this was written many years before online dating. In the early 1980s computers were large, impersonal, incommunicative things; few could have foreseen their use as a vehicle for communicating with others. Computer World is a concept album about the rise of computers within society.
  • This song was originally released as a 7-inch single in the UK in 1981, reaching #36 in the singles chart, backed by "The Model." In December 1981, it was re-released as a double A-side 12-inch single along with "The Model," and this time it topped the UK charts.
  • Coldplay got permission from Kraftwerk to borrow the main synthesizer riff of "Computer Love" for their 2005 song "Talk."
  • This was used on the TV series Master Of None in the 2017 episode "First Date," which finds Dev (Aziz Ansari) using a dating app to meet women.

Comments: 3

  • Eric from Beaverton, OrThis page says "In the early 1980s computers were large, impersonal, incommunicative things and not many could have foreseen their use as a vehicle for communicating with others." The first dial-up computer bulletin board was CBBS, the software was written by Ward Christiansen in 1978. It was designed to be a computerized message system, I believe for a computer club he and his friend Randy Suess belonged to.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBBS
    Dial-up computer bulletin board systems were very popular in the 80s through the mid-90s until the internet became popular. Also, some forms of email were around in time-sharing computer systems in the 60s.
  • Annabelle from Eugene, OrIsn't this one also done by Zapp and Roger? Or am I thinking of same title, different song?
  • Michael Martarano from New Haven, CtMost definitely one of my all time favorite songs.

    The album Computerwelt is notable for it's early use Digital instruments instead of the standard Analog of the day and also for incorporating 8 bit samples of consumer electronics. A technique which had not seen much use until the current Circuit Bending trend in Electronic Music of the late 1990s and 2000s.

    As mentioned before Computerliebe is a prophetic song about finding love via the computer. Another 80s song that shares a similar prophecy is Kate Bush's 'Deeper Understanding' which deals with computer addiction.
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