Hoops, Art Of Noise, and Eadweard Muybridge

The following is possibly another new deep cut chems reference I came upon today while record hunting.

I found Art of Noise - Legs 12" Single while digging at my local shop. First thing that struck me was the similarity to the Hoops "Kick Ass" Donkey on the cover as seen below.



Flipped over checking the track listing finding the second track on the b-side was "Hoops and Mallets". Wait, what?

Pull up youtube on the phone for "Legs", "Legs (Inside Leg Mix)", and "Hoops and Mallets"

Legs (Inside Leg Mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaowG0QvlCM

Hoops and Mallets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wIIUWw4X04&t=141s

In the Legs (Inside Leg Remix), the animation is clearly there for the "kick ass" at 0:48 and other points in the video. The only frame that I couldn't see is when the donkey has it's front legs up. Here's Hoops from Fuji '02 as reference.


https://youtu.be/SWHmcElMLVs?t=1173

The video for the original Legs also has the animation but it is covered by animated borders.

Digging down the rabbit hole, found that the original animation is one of Eadweard Muybridge's animations. I think they have come up before on the forum as Muybridge's animations for the Pelican, Elephant, etc.. (extra note, found out my landlord was the producer on a Muybridge biopic).

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/mule-bucking-and-kicking-ruth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmrtBuAu0nk

My hypothesis is that Tom, Ed, and Adam were influenced by Art of Noise and Eadweard Muybridge's animations in using the "Kick Ass" animation. They potentially were further influenced by the track "Hoops and Mallets" to name the CWU track Hoops.

This is all very speculative on my part. Hoops / EBW6 live is one of my most cherished experiences. I had the Kick Ass chems shirt years ago but have no idea where it ended up.

Anyone is free to contribute to / poke holes in my theory.

That was me who brought up Muybridge previously when I found the visuals to Problem:Question (and the saturate intro). Kinda cool he was also responsible for Hoops's Kicking Ass. I wonder if he was also responsible for the scattering cockroaches.

You guys are amazing. Excellent find!

Credit to Connor matching up Eadweard Muybridge's work with Chems live show a while back.

I like the newer cinematic visuals (Eve of Destruction, I'll See You There, etc.) but the simplistic silhouetted Eadweard Muybridge visuals are my favorite part of the live show. The audio/visual during these sequences of the show, leave me fascinated.

The "kick ass" shirt should get a reprint (as should a few others). I bought an unlicensed one off of eBay many years back and wore it quite a bit to the point where the graphics were cracking. It's been retired to my treasure trove of concert/band shirts that I have stored away.

Cool find, Ryno. Now I'll be digging into 'Art of Noise' because of this!

Cool find, Ryno. Now I'll be digging into 'Art of Noise' because of this!

Well Prodigy sampled them, so did Fatboy but I don't believe the Chems ever did.
For me Close To The Edit, Moments in Love and the Duane Eddy thing (which Fatboy sampled) are worth a listen. The rest, not so much.

Well Prodigy sampled them, so did Fatboy but I don't believe the Chems ever did.
For me Close To The Edit, Moments in Love and the Duane Eddy thing (which Fatboy sampled) are worth a listen. The rest, not so much.

The Prodigy remixed Art Of Noise's Instruments Of Darkness back in 1991, then sampled them on Firestarter.

I will not tolerate Art of Noise slander

In Visible Silence is a perfect album

That was me who brought up Muybridge previously when I found the visuals to Problem:Question (and the saturate intro). Kinda cool he was also responsible for Hoops's Kicking Ass. I wonder if he was also responsible for the scattering cockroaches.

Saw them and instantly heard MAH :')

Well Prodigy sampled them, so did Fatboy but I don't believe the Chems ever did.
For me Close To The Edit, Moments in Love and the Duane Eddy thing (which Fatboy sampled) are worth a listen. The rest, not so much.

Sampled and remixed