Song written by Robin Scott.
M version
Robin Scott recorded the song on his debut album ‘New York • London • Paris • Munich’ (1979) using the stage name M. Originally it was conceived as a R&B and funk track, until a friend of Scott suggested using synthesizers. The single was released in the UK first, peaking at number 2 in the UK singles chart in May 1979. In August of the same year, it was released in North America, where it eventually climbed all the way to number 1 in Canada and the USA. The UK 12″ single was notable for the A-side having a double groove so that the two tracks (‘Pop Muzik’ and ‘M Factor’) both started at the outer edge of the record and finished in the middle (with a long silence at the end of “M Factor” since the track was the shorter of the two). This resulted in a random selection of the two tracks, depending on which groove the needle landed in the lead-in. To further market this idea, the UK record sleeve stated “B side included on A side, full length disco mix of Pop Musik on Seaside”. ‘Seaside’ (in other words “C side”) was a simple play on words as the letter C, apart from being the logical next “side” after the A and B sides, is pronounced the same way as the English word “sea”.
In 1989, a remixed version of the track was released, without significant chart success. The track was covered by the UK band All Systems Go in 1988 and performed live by U2 in 1997, during their PopMart tour.
Kim Wilde version
Kim Wilde performed the song live during her Greatest Hits Tour in 2022, with Ricky Wilde performing lead vocals and Kim and Scarlett Wilde doing the female backing vocals. The song was intertwined with her own track The Second Time.