“Angel Face” by Shock was a minor hit in the UK and on European dancefloors, but not in the US. Music fans here knew the song because it was included on a (well-known at the time) “loss leader” $1.99 “New Wave” “sampler” from RCA called Blitz that you can still easily find in the used record bins for around the same price. Aside from introducing adventuresome early 80s American listeners to Bow Wow Wow, the album also contained songs by great songs by Sparks and Polyrock, a minimalist synthpop band that Philip Glass sometimes played with and produced.

But for me, the best track on Blitz was “Angel Face” a cover of an old Glitter Band song. Shock were a dance troupe, incorporating mime artists (Tik & Tok from Return of the Jedi were members). I realize, of course, that this probably sounds fucking terrible already, but give it a chance. Were they musicians? No, but they did have “a look” that record companies, searching for the next big thing—the New Romantics and Boy George were just around the corner—could get behind.

Shock’s Barbie Wilde would later play the female Cenobyte in Hellraiser II. Other than that there’s not a whole lot more to the story, but amusingly, one of them, Carole Caplin, went on to become a “style coach” for Cherie Blair, wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. She became tabloid fodder for her connection to Australian con-man Peter Foster, who she introduced to Mrs. Blair, during a scandal dubbed “Cheriegate.”

The song’s propulsive beat comes from the use of a then-new (and prohibitively expensive) Roland MC-8 Microcomposer and in many ways provided the template for the New Romantic sound soon to be taken up by Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Blancmange and others. The song was co-produced by Blitz club DJ Rusty Egan (later of the group Visage and London’s Camden Palace nightclub) and technological innovator Richard James Burgess of Landcape (who produced hit albums by Spandau Ballet and designed the first electronic drum).

I used to go the Mudd Club in London, practically every Friday in 1983-84 and “Angel Face” was always played once a night without fail, which always made me very happy.

Below, Shock performing “Angel Face” live when they opened for Gary Numan at Wembley Arena in 1981: