Glittering Prize

"Glittering Prize"
Single by Simple Minds
Single by Simple Minds
from the album New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)
B-side "Glittering Prize Theme"
Released August 1982 (1982-08)
Format 12", 7"
Genre New wave
Length 4:02
Label Virgin
Writer(s) Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes and Mick MacNeil
Producer(s) Peter Walsh
Simple Minds singles chronology
"Promised You A Miracle"
(1982)
"Glittering Prize"
(1982)
"Someone Somewhere In Summertime"
(1982)

"Glittering Prize" is a 1982 hit single by the Scottish rock group Simple Minds, and released on their fifth studio album New Gold Dream, released the same year.

The song reached #16 in the UK and the top 20 in other countries including Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden.[1][2]

A compilation album, released by Simple Minds in 1992, is named after the song, and is entitled Glittering Prize 81/92,[3]

Music video

The video continuously alternates between two main stages. The first one is set in a golden room where the band members (Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, and Mick MacNeil only), all dressed in black, perform the song. The other stage is set in a dark, museum-like room, under the surveillance of a napping security guard, and featuring hanging portraits of the band members' faces made of gold. A story unfolds in this latter stage as a young woman in a bikini and whose body is all painted in gold, stealthily penetrating the room and reaching out to a sarcophagus within which lies a pharaoh version of Kerr. After having touched his face and brought the other band members back to life she then drives away with them in a car. As the guard realises the burglary, the woman, now in the golden room, rests in a long chair and sips on a cocktail before the video ends.[4]

Chart positions

Country Positions
United Kingdom #16
Australia #9
Ireland 11
New Zealand 4
Sweden 11

References

  1. "Chart Stats - Glittering Prize". chartstats.com.
  2. "Glittering Prize". allmusic.com.
  3. Glittering Prize 81/92 Cassette Sleeve Notes by Brian Hogg, 1992
  4. Simple Minds - Glittering Prize. YouTube. Retrieved 1 October 2011

External links

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