Song · A Flock of Seagulls
“Telecommunication” by A Flock of Seagulls
From the EP Modern Love Is Automatic / Telecommunication (1981)
“Telecommunication” by A Flock of Seagulls appears on 5 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1982 and 2003. It was first released in 1981 on the EP Modern Love Is Automatic / Telecommunication. Its best result is #92 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #130 alternative song of 1982 and #4,031 alternative song of all time.
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"Telecommunication" was A Flock of Seagulls' second single, out in September 1981 and later folded into their 1982 debut album, A Flock of Seagulls. Bill Nelson produced it, Mike Shipley engineered, and all four members share the writing credit: Mike Score singing lead and playing keyboards and guitar, Paul Reynolds on guitar, Frank Maudsley on bass and backing vocals, Ali Score on drums.
It's a sleek, uptempo rush of power chords and heavy synth with its lyrics fixed on the future, and it skips the big guitar chorus in favour of percussive arpeggios and stacked layers of sound. The pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic ignored it, but the dance floors didn't: paired with "Modern Love Is Automatic", it reached No. 19 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, and it has held on to a cult following ever since.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 92 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 423 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1991 | 410 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 2002 | 1449 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1135 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
Also listed as: Telecommunications.
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