#40: Situation by Yazoo

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: October 1982
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #73
Peak Position on Belgium Singles chart ~ #7
YouTube: “Situation”
Lyrics: “Situation”

Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet was born in 1961 in Billericay, Essex, England. After leaving school at 16, she worked as a shop assistant and trained as a piano tuner. She was involved in a number of punk rock, pub rock and blues bands in the South East Essex area during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Vandals, the Screamin’ Ab Dabs, the Vicars and the Little Roosters. At the age of 21, Moyet’s mainstream pop career began in 1982 with the formation of the synth-pop duo Yazoo with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke.

Vince Clarke was born Vincent John Martin in 1960 in Essex, England. He initially studied the violin and then the piano. In the late 1970s, Clarke and schoolmate Andy Fletcher formed a short-lived band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass guitar. In 1979, Clarke played guitar in the Plan. In 1980, after the Plan dissolved, Clarke and Fletcher formed Composition of Sound, and were soon joined by Martin Gore. Clarke provided vocals until lead vocalist Dave Gahan joined the band, which was renamed Depeche Mode. At that time he adopted the stage name Vince Clarke, by which he is currently known.

Clarke wrote the hit singles from Depeche Mode’s debut album Speak & Spell, including “Just Can’t Get Enough”. Clarke left Depeche Mode shortly thereafter. He commented on Depeche Mode’s later material as being a little dark for his taste, but good nonetheless. Clarke also stated that he did not enjoy the public aspects of success, such as touring and interviews, and found himself frequently at odds with his bandmates, particularly on the tour bus.

Vince Clarke teamed up with Alison Moyet, known at the time by her nickname Alf. In the United States, Yazoo operated under the name Yaz, due to trademark issues with the Yazoo Records record label already operating in the region.

In 1981, Yazoo released their debut album Upstairs at Eric’s. From the album came the debut single “Only You”. The song climbed to #2 in the UK, #3 in Zimbabwe, #5 in Ireland, #6 in Australia and Iceland. It was also a Top 20 hit in Hungary, Portugal and Spain. Yahoo’s followup single release, “Don’t Go”, peaked at #1 in Belgium and Iceland, #2 in the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, #3 in France and the UK, #4 in Ireland, Spain and West Germany, #5 in Sweden, #6 in Australia, Austria, #7 in Finland, and #9 in South Africa.

The third single release from Upstairs at Eric’s was “Situation”.

“Situation” was cowritten by Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke. “Situation” has one of the most famous laughs in music history – you’ll hear it about 20 seconds in. That laugh is Alison Moyet reacting to a heavy reverb the producers put on her microphone. Known for her enthusiasm, Moyet has a memorable laugh, and her spontaneous, heavily reverbed chuckle made the song. That laugh ended up being sampled in about 100 songs, most famously the 1996 hit version of Los Del Rio’s “Macarena,” where it’s used at the beginning of the song as character development.

Vince Clarke wrote the original lyrics and offered them to Depeche Mode while he was still with that band. They refused, and Clarke showed them to Moyet.

The lyrics include the curious rhyme:
Now he’s in control, he is my lover.
Nations stand against him he’s your brother.

Perhaps “nations stand against him/he’s your brother” is an observation of a contrasting contradiction. Given “he’s your brother,” nations might be expected to embrace him instead of standing against him. We live in an ironic world.

The chorus in “Situation” depicts a relationship that is at its end, with one person telling the other:
1) Don’t mess around: (Messing around is slang for cheating in a relationship and having affairs on the side). , 2) You bring me down: Slang for being a catalyst or the root cause for someone else feeling bothered, upset, and/or depressed about the communication and/or behavior of someone else, and 3) Just move out (which is a demand that a couple cease living together given an apparent incompatibility).

“Situation” peaked at #3 in Montreal, #7 in Quebec City, and #9 in El Paso (TX) and Los Angeles. Internationally, “Situation” peaked at #7 in Belgium, and #16 in Finland and the Netherlands. Club DJs in America loved “Situation,” and it spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Dance chart and climbed to #73 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1990, Yazoo released a remix titled “Situation ’90”. It reached #14 in the UK, and was a Top 40 hit in Belgium and Germany. For three weeks in October 1999, a new remix titled “Situation ’99” topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart in the USA.

In late 1982, Yazoo released a non-album single titled “The Other Side of Love”. The single reached #7 in Denmark, #9 in Belgium, #11 in Ireland, #13 in the UK, #15 in Zimbabwe, #18 in Portugal, and #20 in Austria and Italy.

In 1983, Yazoo released their second studio album titled You and Me Both. The debut single was “Nobody’s Diary”. It climbed to #3 in Iceland and the UK, #5 in Ireland, #6 in Zimbabwe, #9 in Sweden, #10 in Spain, #12 in Denmark, #14 in Italy and New Zealand, #15 in Finland, #17 in Australia, #18 in West Germany, and #20 in Belgium.

Yazoo disbanded at the end of 1983. In 1984 Alison Moyet released her debut solo album Alf. The debut single, “Love Resurrection”, cracked the Top Ten in the UK and Ireland. The followup release from the album, “All Cried Out”, made the Top Ten in New Zealand, Ireland and the UK. Her third single release from Alf was “Invisible”.

In 1985 Alison Moyet covered a 1944 blues tune by Billie Holiday titled “That Ole Devil Called Love”. Her cover climbed to #2 on the UK pop chart, becoming her biggest hit record. While her single was on the UK charts, her record label released “For You Only’ from Alf on continental Europe. The single climbed to #7 in West Germany.

In 1986 Moyet released the studio album Raindancing. From the album came “Is This Love?”, which she co-wrote with David Stewart of the Eurythmics. The single cracked the Top Five in Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. A second single release from the album, “Weak In The Presence Of Beauty”, was released in early 1987. It also cracked Top Ten charts in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway. Later in 1987 Moyet was again in the Top Ten in Ireland and the UK with a cover of the Kitty Lester hit from 1961 titled “Love Letters”.

Over the years Alison Moyet has released nine studio albums. Aside from “Whispering Your Name” reaching #18 in the UK in 1992, she has not returned to the Top 40 anywhere internationally.

In 1983, Clarke teamed up with Feargall Sharkey, and Eric Radcliffe, they had a Top 5 single in the UK titled “Never Never”. In 1985, Vince Clarke co-founded Erasure with Andy Bell. The duo had numerous international Top Ten hits between 1986 and 2007. These include “Sometimes”, “Victim Of Love”, “The Circus”, “Ship Of Fools”, “A Little Respect”, “Stop”, “Drama!”, “Blue Savannah”, “Chorus”, “Love To Hate You”, “Always”, “Solisbury Hill” and “Breathe”.

In 2010, Clarke formed a duo with Martin Gore named VCMG. They released one album and three EPs.

May 19, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Interview: Alison Moyet,” Nottingham Post, October 16, 2009.
Paul Lester, “Alison Moyet: ‘I Smashed all my Gold Discs. There Were Hundreds’,” Guardian, April 18, 2013.
Una Brankin, “A Confident Alison Moyet is Beating her Demons,” Belfast Telegraph, May 28, 2013.
Kay Pearson, “‘I Quite Enjoy the Invisibility of Middle Age’,” Echo, October 27, 2017.
“Vince Clarke Biography,” vince clarkemusic.com.

CKGM 980-AM Montreal (PQ) Top Ten | October 28, 1982