If you like this, listen to "The Why Not - Ghedaffi"

Now I would have never known that! I think this is a great look at electronic music production technique from a time well before sampling became the de facto norm for any type of electronic music. This came along at a time when the sampling aspect of music was mainly coloring and flavor, and not so much the very fabric of the tune as was the case after around '96 or so. What I mean by that, broadly, is that most of the music was in fact, laboriously written, programmed, and executed on real hardware machines and not just sampled off of existing tracks via software and a computer, uh, and the internet. That alone is why I love this track. The samples do get to be cheesy over a period of dozens of repeated listenings, but that is a singular opinion on the matter and not a criticism of the song. The music is great, the samples are the only thing that may cloud this tune - but, they in fact also made the tune, so where do you go from there? Controversy or none, this is a standout track in terms of production clarity and if analog synths are your tune, you will like it for sure. Especially that minimoog-flavored bass.

No minimoog on this. The analog tones are Prophet-5...

Entirely digital. No analog synths can be heard. Even the bassline sounds very digital.

Paul Hardcastle's 19 is a great record that is completely surrounded in controversy that serves to increase the popularity of the record, and also tarnish its image. The criticism of this record, as good as the production is, is deserved however. The average age of a Vietnam soldier according to KIA statstics was not 19. Statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993 indicate the average age of the 58,148 U.S. soliders killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. It can be blamed on Hardcastle for using the "nineteen" spoken sample from ABC's Vietnam Requiem documentary, but most of the blame though should be placed on ABC for not correctly fact checking their sources and claiming falsely the age of the average combat solider to have been 19, when in fact it was closer to 23. But what can be critiqued about this record is that the spoken sample's from ABC's Vietnam Requiem documentary were used without permission by Hardcastle. Mike Oldfield also sued and won a settlement with Hardcastle when Oldfield charged that Hardcastle had stolen melodic elements of the famous Tubular Bells release of Oldfields for the song 19. So two samples were used without permission for this record, and the entire basis for the record (19) was an inaccurate basis to begin with. A great and classic electronic record, but controversial nevertheless.

Hardcastle did originally get permission for the documentary sample. It was only when 19 was successful that the narrator, in Hardcastle's words "got himself a clever lawyer" who argued that it wasn't being used for the purpose that it was originally intended and that the narrator was therefore entitled to more money. It was settled out of court as Hardcastle would lose more money fighting it than just paying the royalties.

i see no difference between 19 and 23.

Inaccurate statements and copyright issues not withstanding does not diminish the entire point of this record. When this thing dropped the United States was still licking its wounds from Vietnam and in the 21st Century now have a better understanding that is was wrong and murderous among other issues like Monsanto's invention of Agent Orange. By pointing out the factual errors and possible "thief" of copyrighted material seems to me a shot at trying to discredit this record and its powerful message. Maybe because I'm Black in America and I see things DIFFERENTLY than many others, I raise a fist when I hear this, instead of search Google to find errors in it. Peace