Party Fears Two

Party Fears Two was written by Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine, produced by Mike Hedges and recorded in 1981 at Playground Studios in London, with It's Better This Way on the B-side. It reached number 9 in the UK in March 1982 and number 16 in Ireland. The release date is disputed: Wikipedia's song article says February 26, 1982 and its Sulk article says January 29. The lengths are 4:05 for the 7-inch, 5:04 for the remix and 5:38 for the 12-inch; the album track is 4:52 by the song article and 5:45 by the Sulk article.

It was written in 1979 around a piano riff, though Classic Pop says 1977. Both writers at first rejected it, and Rankine said it was too tuneful and too pretty for the end of punk. Hedges miked the piano with an SM58 with its top removed, placed on the soundbar, according to Classic Pop, and Rankine described a tack piano. The 40th anniversary box includes a demo of it called I Never Will.

What it is about

The lyrics begin and end with a reference to a brother. MacKenzie said the title came from his younger brother, who described two girls trying to force their way into a party. Rankine remembered MacKenzie spending two years getting the lyrics right, and the song ends with three cups being smashed and MacKenzie spitting out his gum. MacKenzie told NME the song could be about marital conflict, political extremes or schizophrenia.

The Guardian's Alexis Petridis, quoted by uDiscover, called it the album's centerpiece with an astonishing vocal performance from MacKenzie. The Quietus called it an oddball elegy to excess, and Chi Ming Lai of the Electricity Club says the original single version is still the best. Neil Tennant, then at Smash Hits, said it was a big song that deserved to be a big hit.

Afterlife

It was the theme tune of BBC Radio 4's satire show Week Ending from May 1982 until July 1993, and Scottish music bloggers voted it the greatest Scottish single. On Top of the Pops in early 1982 Rankine played banjo in a fencing suit and samurai makeup, and MacKenzie sang to his own image on a screen. Covers include the Divine Comedy on Victory for the Comic Muse in 2006 and Heaven 17 on Naked as Advertised; King Creosote and Dan Bryk are listed on Wikipedia too, with a citation-needed tag. The upload on hypersongs is a fan video.