The Alarm pays tribute to music video with 'Music Television' album; more live dates added

New album features reimaginings of classics by The Buggles, Modern English, INXS & more

√ First single/video of David Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World’

Press Release

“A.I. killed the rock and roll star,” sing Welsh alt-rock icons The Alarm as they prepare for the release of brand-new album “Music Television,” a technicolor homage to the video explosion of the 1980s through a reinterpreted collection of MTV channel classics. “Music Television” will only be available on vinyl and CD at venues throughout the “Live Today Love Tomorrow” tour (info below) or online at TheAlarm.com.

Inspired by David Bowie’s 1973 album of glam-proto-punk cover versions “Pin Ups,” “Music Television” by The Alarm will step back into the future reinterpreting songs from some of rock’s most influential and defining moments in visual music.

“The Alarm came of age in the MTV era” Peters said. “So many of our longstanding fans grew up on MTV and saw The Alarm for the first time on MTV’s ‘The Cutting Edge’ or via the historic ‘Spirit Of ‘86 Live Global Broadcast’ concert, and have stayed with us ever since.”

Featuring 11 tracks celebrating both influential and underrated artists from Generation MTV that changed and influenced the lives of so many, the first single from “Music Television” is a psychedelic, Bowie-inspired/Nirvana-influenced acoustic cover of “The Man Who Sold The World,” which Peters attributes to his fascination with the groundbreaking “MTV Unplugged” acoustic performance series.

“ ‘Unplugged’ was a series that redefined music as we knew it,” he said. “I remember watching in awe at some of the incredible stripped-down arrangements of classic songs and, at the same time, envious that I had been denied the opportunity to appear on the show back in the day. (The Alarm appeared in the series’ first season, but without Peters.) This is my chance to take back part of music television history and pay my respects to an era that changed everything.”

WATCH:

“Music Television” kicks off with a reimagining of the first ever song to be played on MTV back in 1981 – The Buggles “Video Killed The Radio Star” – with a subtle lyric change that reflects the threat of A.I. and new technology on rock ’n’ roll as we now know it. Dire Straits’ MTV anthem “Money For Nothing” (the first song to be played on MTV Europe in 1987), is remodeled into a garage rock, harmonica-driven anthem in the electro-acoustic style of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse. Among other songs getting r-imaginings include INXS’ “Don’t Change,” The Blow Monkeys’ “Live Today Love Tomorrow,” Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” and Modern English’s classic “I Melt With You.”

A redrawing of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” embraces the original’s spacious atmospherics and injects raw electronic blues into the mix, centering it on Peters’ iconic vocals.

“I was walking with my guitar in NYC’s Central Park when I came across a busker playing a stripped-back minor key version on a beat-up old guitar and I joined in,” Peters recalled about his chance encounter in 2023. “It was truly amazing to hear a song so familiar in unfamiliar surroundings. I asked him where he first heard the song, and he said ‘MTV, man!’ and that gave me the inspiration for this version of the track.”

The tour, which was announced earlier this year, has been extended coast to coast, with over 30 shows starting in New Orleans on May 1 and continuing through to July when the tour reaches Florida. The Alarm also features on the bill of the massive Cruel World Festival in California on May 11, alongside Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Placebo and Interpol.

The band will perform at Asbury Hall in Buffalo on May 14.

“Music Television” by The Alarm will be released as a limited-edition yellow/purple vinyl press exclusively via the band’s website www.thealarm.com, and on CD at all U.S. venues throughout the “Live Today Love Tomorrow Tour.”