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Angst in My Pants
Angst in My Pants
Studio album by Sparks
Released	March 29, 1982
Studio	Musicland (Munich, Germany)
Genre	Rock; power pop; synth-pop;
Length	35:31
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Mack
Sparks chronology
Singles from Angst in My Pants
	"I Predict"; Released: April 1982; "Angst in My Pants"; Released: 1982 (Germany);

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]

Angst in My Pants is the eleventh studio album by American pop and rock band Sparks. The album was released in 1982 by Atlantic Records in both the US and UK, and this was the sixth overall label that the band was signed to in the US, and, for the first time since the mid-1970s, the band would be signed to the same label in both the US and UK for three consecutive studio albums.

History

Angst in My Pants marked the second studio album that keyboardist Ron Mael and lead vocalist Russell Mael worked with the backing band of guitarist Bob Haag, bassist Leslie Bohem, and drummer David Kendrick. James Goodwin augmented the line-up playing additional synthesizers, though these were mixed farther back, letting the rest of the band come to the fore. The resulting power pop^[2] album was recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany produced by Mack in association with Giorgio Moroder Enterprises. The recording of the album was the second and last time that Sparks worked with Mack. It was the last album to feature Ron sporting his signature toothbrush mustache on the album cover.

In a 1990 interview with Trouser Press, the band discussed how the title track came about from being short one song after the rest of the album had been recorded. According to Russell Mael:

We had another song called "Angst in My Pants" with a totally different melody. It was going to be on the album, but we didn't like it that much. We needed one more song for the album. We're usually well prepared before we record, but somehow we were one song short. We'd finished recording all the other songs. One day in the hotel in Munich, Ron came up with that melody and stuck the old title onto the new song. Mack really liked the song and we recorded it.^[3]

Release

Angst in My Pants was not a success in the UK but was as successful as their previous studio album, Whomp That Sucker (1981), in the U.S. where it peaked at No. 173 on the Billboard 200.^[4]

The single "I Predict" became Sparks' first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No. 60 in May 1982.^[5] This was the first time since the release of "Wonder Girl" in 1971 that Sparks had enjoyed moderate success on the U.S. single charts. An extended remix of "I Predict" was released as a club promo while the 7" single was backed with the album track "Moustache". The music video for "I Predict" was directed by Douglas Brian Martin, with cinematography by Frederick Elmes.^[6]

"Angst in My Pants" and "Eaten by the Monster of Love" were both used in the movie Valley Girl, a romantic comedy released in 1983. "Eaten by the Monster of Love" was also featured in the 2009 horror movie Cabin Fever 2 and the sixth season episode of Gilmore Girls, "The Real Paul Anka". "Angst in My Pants" was also featured in the season two episode of the Showtime series Yellowjackets, "Old Wounds".

The band performed "Mickey Mouse" and "I Predict" as musical guests on the May 15, 1982 episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Danny DeVito. "Mickey Mouse" was prefaced by a monologue from Ron Mael, in a deadpan style, describing the characteristics of the common mouse and its various activities (including "scaring women" and "ingesting huge amounts of saccharine for laboratory experiments"), leading up to the introduction of the song title.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Ron Mael and Russell Mael

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Angst in My Pants"	3:25
2.	"I Predict"	2:50
3.	"Sextown U.S.A."	2:56
4.	"Sherlock Holmes"	3:34
5.	"Nicotina"	3:26
6.	"Mickey Mouse"	3:16

Side two
No.	Title	Length
7.	"Moustache"	3:28
8.	"Instant Weight Loss"	3:27
9.	"Tarzan and Jane"	3:18
10.	"The Decline and Fall of Me"	2:53
11.	"Eaten by the Monster of Love"	2:58
Total length:		35:31

Imperial Records (Japan) bonus tracks (2009)
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Angst in My Pants" (Radio Promo Ad)	1:03
13.	"Kidnap" (Unreleased Demo)	3:11
14.	"A Trying Day" (Unreleased Demo)	3:21
15.	"Dancing Is Dangerous (I Ought to Know)" (Unreleased Demo)	3:27

Repertoire Records bonus tracks (2013)
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Modesty Plays" (Short Version)	3:07
13.	"I Predict" (Club Mix)	6:19
14.	"Modesty Plays" (Extended Version)	5:16

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Angst in My Pants liner notes.^[7]

Russell Mael — vocals
Ron Mael — keyboards, synthesizers, cover concept
Leslie Bohem — bass guitar, additional background vocals
Bob Haag — guitar, additional background vocals
David Kendrick — drums
James Goodwin — synthesizers
Mack — production, engineering, synthesizer programming

References

^ ^a ^b "Sparks - Record Collector Magazine". recordcollectormag.com. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c AllMusic review
^ "Sparks, 1975 + 1990". Trouser Press. 2021-06-19. Retrieved 2021-10-08.
^ "Sparks in Billboard 200". billboard.com. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ "Allmusic - Billboard Albums - Sparks". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
^ "allmusic - I Predict - Sparks". © 2009 Macrovision Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
^ Angst in My Pants (CD booklet). Sparks. Atlantic Records. 1982.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)