Good Technology

by Stuart Ross

We've got photographs of men on the moon,
We've got water that is good for us,
We've got coffee that's instantaneous,
We've got buildings that are very tall,
We've got cigarettes that are low in tar,
We've got policemen can tell us who we are,
We can reproduce a work of art,
We've got missiles can tear the world apart,
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology.

We've got trains that run underground,
Aeroplanes that fly very fast,
We've got music that is popular,
We've got machines that sound like orchestras,
We've got ability to transplant a heart,
We've got freezers full of body parts,
We've got computers that can find us friends,
We know roughly when the world will end,
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology.

We've got animals with transistors in,
We've got pills that can make you slim,
We've got factories turning frozen chickens out,
We've got ovens that cook in seconds flat,
We've got plastics that are indestructible,
We've got deodorants that make us smell of flowers,
We've got detergents to clean up the sea,
We've got sounds can turn you inside out!

(guitar solo)

Sometimes I wonder what it is all about?
There's lots of leisure time to sit and work it out.
There's a tv show I've got to see,
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology,
Good technology.

Good Technology quotes...

Via one delicious melody and an ominously building beat, Red Guitars itemise the sundry achievements of modern science, from underarm personal hygiene to the hardware of instant Armageddon. In so doing, the song constructs an unforgettable vision of a world that's grown too clever by one-and-a-half at least.   Paul Du Noyer, NME, 27/08/83

Good Technology is one of those tracks that grabs you by the ears on first listen, the sort of thing that even before it's halfway through you know you love. Tense pulsing background with sharp spikes of guitar, it's clearly not long after early Talking Heads and New Romantics. It swells and spreads, expansive and awkward, but the thing that sets it apart and makes it worthy of remembering 20 years on is the arresting lyric.   Dust On The Stylus blog

I'd played the song in a couple of other bands with Jerry and I knew it was good but I went away for 6 months and when I got back Jerry had met Hal and formed The Czechs. When I heard what they were doing I really knew I had to wheedle my way into the band.   JR

I think the guitar solo was just about the first take we did and I thought it was crap, but everyone else was going "no, keep it, keep it!" so we did. I guess it sounds OK in retrospect.   Hal

I remember going round to Stuart's place and he played it to me on his acoustic for the first time. It sounded unique then and I think it still does. How many times did we try to record it? At least four. A song in search of its tempo. I love it when Lou's bass starts to walk at the end. Eve of Destruction! This bloke called Tim who was an ex-telephone engineer figured out the number for the direct line into John Peel's studio at the BBC. I bottled out but various people phoned big John and plugged Good Tech. I must say he took it in a very relaxed and Peel-like manner. They changed the number shortly afterwards.   Jeremy

Great memories as it was our first single and the one people tend to remember. I always wanted the snare to be "massive" but John, Hal and Jerry realised it had become a monster and went back and re-mixed it!   Matt

We lost a few good lines in search of the 3-minute pop song. I missed "we got chemicals make you believe in God, we got politics that are very odd".   Lou