Golden Skans

Album: Myths Of The Near Future (2007)
Charted: 7
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is based on J.G Ballard's book Myths Of The Near Future. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Evvo - Manchester, England
  • In 2007, Myths Of The New Future won The Mercury Prize for the best British or Irish album of the year. The judges said of the album: "Rock meets pop meets dance, the Klaxons take us on an ecstatic musical adventure." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • Jamie Reynolds (vocals/bass) was asked by the New Musical Express December 15, 2007 what he remembered about making "Golden Skans." He replied: "I remember the writing process more. We recorded it twice and did a demo of it and we realized we had to slow it down, but the writing sticks out more than anything. I remember thinking it was very clever of Madonna to steal from Abba, so I decided to steal the thing that she'd stolen from Abba from Madonna. I don't know if anyone's ever noticed but it's basically "Hung Up" by Madonna. "Golden Skans" is that song." Reynolds was then asked if he felt "Golden Skans" has taken on a life of its own. He replied: "Absolutely. You know the difference between recording a song and listening to it is completely different? I remember taking it back to my very small bedroom in New Cross and putting it on my CD player. I realized that we had a tune on our hands. Everything else had been noise up until that point, but now we actually had a pop song."
  • Myths Of The Near Future was named after a short story collection by science fiction writer JG Ballard.
  • In the same NME interview, James Righton (Co-vocals and keyboards) was asked how long it took to record the album. He replied: "From the day we began about two years ago, we pretty much started work on the album. In that first week of us getting together and playing, we'd written "Atlantic To Interzone," "Four Horsemen Of 2012," "Gravity's Rainbow" and "Golden Skans." Within that first week we'd spent every hour of the day together, going out together, going down the chip shop together. In the rehearsal studios, spending all the nights just playing and writing. It was always our intention to do things fast, we didn't want to have that couple of years incubation period that most bands have. In that same week had the title; we knew it had to be called Myths Of The Near Future. One of the ideas we had was to make it into a trilogy, although I think that's now unlikely. Once we'd figured out what we wanted to be, the rest of it came quite naturally and easily."

Comments: 1

  • Indigo from Adelaide, Australiathe first time i heard this song was when the klaxons played it live in london. it was awesome, i because i'd never heard their music before i began to listen to their other stuff, which is also really good.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Guy Clark

Guy ClarkSongwriter Interviews

Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett are just a few of the artists who have looked to Clark for insightful, intelligent songs.

Rupert Hine

Rupert HineSongwriter Interviews

Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

Jethro Tull

Jethro TullFact or Fiction

Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.

Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles

Timothy B. Schmit of the EaglesSongwriter Interviews

Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.