Songs in the key of my life: John Foxx - Burning Car

Ultravox was a pioneering New Wave band until its leader John Foxx left, and Midge Ure turned the band into a successful and schmaltzy neo-romantic combo. Foxx, however, went on to produce even more radical doom-laden electronic pop with the albums 'Metamatic' and 'The Garden'. 'Burning Car' is in my opinion the best song that didn't make it on either of those records, you had to get the single. To me 'Burning Car' was the ultimate New Wave song, love being declared with a car burning in the background, sung in an almost disinterested voice, the futuristic electronic sound evoking a future of dread. I readily prefered this kind of apocalyptic vision over the more cheerful Kraftwerk who seemed to be embracing the future. But clearly Foxx was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and he certainly influenced others as well. When my pals and I arrived in New York in 1981 on our US trip, we took a taxi from La Guardia airport to Manhattan passing through a desolate part of the city, crumbling apartment housings and - burning cars! John Foxx' bleak vision was apparently not just an acquired attitude. And everytime I see burning cars on the news - this song comes back into my head. Today, John Foxx is as prolific as ever and is still creating interesting music.