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Musique pour Supermarché

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Musique pour Supermarché
A photograph of a full shopping cart, split vertically in half, revealing a black-and-white photo of Jean-Michel Jarre in background
Studio album by
Released6 July 1983 (1983-07-06)
RecordedFebruary–May 1983
GenreElectronic
Length29:49
LabelDisques Dreyfus
ProducerJean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre chronology
Les Concerts en Chine
(1982)
Musique pour Supermarché
(1983)
Zoolook
(1984)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[1]

Musique pour Supermarché (English title: Music for Supermarkets) is the sixth studio album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Only a single vinyl copy was ever pressed. It was sold at an auction, where its master plates were deliberately destroyed. However, later Jarre albums such as Zoolook (1984) or Rendez-Vous (1986) sample/reuse several parts of the album.

Composition and recording

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In 1983, Jarre was approached to create background music for a supermarket-themed art show Orrimbe, to be held in Paris during June 1983. Jarre recorded the album between February and May.[2] Comparing the album to a painting, "not just a worthless commercial product", he chose to auction it along with other art pieces.[3][4] The auction was held on July 6, 1983, at the Hôtel Drouot auction house in Paris,[5][6] and raised about 69,000 francs (equivalent to 8,960 dollars at the time) for charity.[5][6] Jarre explained this was his protest at the "silly industrialisation of music".[7][8]

In the inside cover, 11 polaroid photos show the step-by-step creation of the disc, leaving one slot so that the final owner could add their photo with the album. The album owner was kept anonymous at first, but later revealed to be real estate dealer M. Gérard.[2][4] Shortly after the auction, Jarre allowed Radio Luxembourg to broadcast the album once, in its entirety, and encouraged listeners to record the broadcast with the words "Piratez-moi!" (Pirate me!).[5] Various parts of this album would be reworked for later Jarre projects such as Zoolook (1984) or Rendez-Vous (1986).[2] A demo version of "Musique pour Supermarché (Part 1)" was included on the 2018 compilation Planet Jarre: 50 Years of Music.

Track listing

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All music is composed by Jean-Michel Jarre

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Musique pour Supermarché Overture"4:09
2."Musique pour Supermarché Part I"2:18
3."Musique pour Supermarché Part II"3:29
4."Musique pour Supermarché Part III"2:17
5."Musique pour Supermarché Part IV"3:52
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Musique pour Supermarché Part V"5:54
2."Musique pour Supermarché Part VI"3:59
3."Musique pour Supermarché Part VII"3:51

The duration of the tracks is calculated from bootleg recordings, as the album has never officially been released internationally.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). "Jarre, Jean-Michel". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4 (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 580–581. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c Duguay, Michael (2019). Jean-Michel Jarre. Translated by Kern, Nicolas. Coëtquen Editions. pp. 68–70. ISBN 978-2-84993-340-4 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Dale, David (July 11, 1983). "Is this a record?". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 13. Retrieved December 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Conner, J. A. (July 22, 1983). "There's more than one way to sell a record". Spotlight. Santa Cruz Sentinel. p. 2. Retrieved December 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c "Comment Jean-Michel Jarre est (re) devenu hype". GQ France (in French). May 22, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Marlowe, Jon (July 26, 1983). "One of a kind". Off The Record. The Miami News. Retrieved December 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Remilleux, Jean-Louis (1988), Jean-Michel Jarre (English ed.), Futura Publications Ltd., p. 32, ISBN 0-7088-4263-1
  8. ^ Brown, Jonathan (February 18, 2008). "Toujours Jarre". The Independent. London. p. 15. Retrieved December 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.