White Music is the first studio album by the English band XTC, released on 20 January 1978. It was the follow-up to their debut, 3D EP, released three months earlier. White Music reached No. 38 in the UK Albums Chart and spawned the single "Statue of Liberty", which was banned by the BBC for the lyric "In my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt". In April 1978, the group rerecorded "This Is Pop" as their third single.
Music and lyrics
The track "Radios in Motion" has become one of the band's better-known songs. In a 2009 interview, Andy Partridge stated, "We couldn't think of any better way to start off our first album than with the ‘kick the door in’, breezy opener we used in our live set... the lyrics are very silly, picked for their sonic effect rather than meaning. The first refuge of an inexperienced songwriter, forgive me, but they do have a youthful scattergun energy." The song is considered representative of the band's "agitated amphetamine rock" style of their earlier works, though others would call it "relatively tame mod-pop". The song mentions Milwaukee in the lyrics because Partridge's aunt lived in that city.
Critical reception
Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote in his review of the album: "Although it took a year and a half for this debut album by the premier English art-pop band to get released in the States, two Andy Partridge songs on side one aim directly at the American market—'Radios in Motion,' which mentions Milwaukee, surely isn't about the BBC, and the avowed purpose of 'Statute of Liberty' is to get a look up her skirts. The third, 'This Is Pop,' is why he missed—radio programmers resent anyone telling them their business, especially subversives who favor herky-jerk rhythms, jerky-herk harmonies, Lene Lovich radar noises, and depressing subject matter. Colin Moulding's songs, on the other hand, are aimed at boredYes fans, which is why he missed—the lad doesn't know that Yes fans like being bored." The bandperformed "Radios in Motion", "I'll Set Myself on Fire", "Statue of Liberty" on BBC Two's The Old Grey Whistle Test on 14 February 1978.
