By the end of May 1990, the first season of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks had finished airing on the ABC Television Network. For two months, fans of the show had heard Angelo Badalamenti’s music and dreamed of getting their hands on the soundtrack. Nationwide interest kicked into high gear after Julee Cruise performed “Falling” on Saturday Night Live as a last minute musical act replacement for the May 12, 1990 broadcast. While an official soundtrack was months away from being released, Warner Bros. Records released Cruise’s song as a single in early June 1990. As part of the “Julee in June” takeover on Twin Peaks Blog, here is a look at the release of her song on a cassette single.
JULEE CRUISE PERFORMS ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, MAY 12, 1990
On Wednesday, May 9, Sinead O’Connor backed out of performing on Saturday Night Live to protest controversial comedian Andrew Dice Clay hosting the show. Julee Cruise jumped at the chance to take her spot realizing millions of viewers would be tuning in. She performed “Falling” which was the title track to Twin Peaks that began airing on April 8 on the ABC Television Network. The vocal version of Cruise’s song appeared on her freshman album, “Floating into the Night,” which was released in Oct. 1989. Her performance sparked a renewed interest in the album and her iconic song.
ADVERTISING “FALLING” AND “FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT”
Radio stations across the United States received calls from frantic listeners wanting to get their hands on the tune. This prompted Warner Bros. Records to place a full-page advertisement in the May 22, 1990 issue of “The Gavin Report,” the radio industry’s weekly magazine that influenced airplay.
The ad stated included images of Laura Palmer and Julee Cruise along with details where station managers could find “Falling.”
“From TWIN PEAKS, the show that’s changing the face of television, comes the music to change the sound of radio,” stated the advertisement. It also included a teaser to the instrumental Twin Peaks theme by Angelo Badalamenti from the upcoming Twin Peaks soundtrack that wouldn’t be released until Sept. 11 later that year.
By June 1, “The Gavin Report” listed Cruise’s “Floating Into The Night” in the number 47 spot on their Adult Alternative chart.
The chart included the publicity photo taken by David Lynch of the ethereal singer under the “Record to Watch” side column. The magazine said that “even Leo Johnson can’t kill off this October 1989 release. Twin Peaks mania sure can’t hurt.”
It’s wild to think that one could turn on the radio in late May 1990 and hear Cruise’s voice alongside other popular 1990s music.
‘TWIN PEAKS’ MUSIC ALREADY AVAILABLE
During a time before social media and internet searches, Twin Peaks fans turned to local newspapers to ask burning questions. The Los Angeles Times published one such question answering where to find music from the show. This article was syndicated in newspapers throughout the United States.
“Is the ‘Twin Peaks’ soundtrack available yet?,” the paper questioned.
“The series opening theme is an instrumental version of a song called ‘Falling’ (written by Angelo Badalamenti and producer David Lynch),” answered the paper. “The vocal version of ‘Falling’ is available on a Badalamenti-Lynch-produced album by Julee Cruise titled ‘Floating into the Night.” Two other versions of songs from ‘Twin Peaks’ are also on that album.”
At the time of press, Warner Bros. Records was considering releasing a single (“negotiations are under way”) that included the vocal and instrumental version of the song. The show’s soundtrack was also in the works.
A handful of days later, papers continued answering fan inquiries. The June 9, 1990 issue of “The News and Observer” had this article from Jay Bobbin about the Twin Peaks soundtrack.
“With all the critical acclaim that composer Angelo Badalamenti has earned for his score for the ABC show, a record wasn’t likely to be very far behind. This very week, the theme music (entitled “Falling,” with vocals by Julee Cruise, who performed the tune on the recent Andrew Dice. Clay edition of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”) is slated to be released as a single, so you’re bound to start hearing it on the radio a lot. We’d expect that a full album of the series* melodies should arrive soon.”
JULEE CRUISE’S ‘FALLING’ RELEASED ON A CASSETTE SINGLE
Long before digital downloads via online music stores, record companies released cassette singles. These were the follow up to 45-RPM singles which were declining in popularity after portable cassette players, like the Sony Walkman, became staples for music listening. A report by John Pareles in “The New York Times” from Sept. 1987 stated cassettes were “outselling vinyl records by a ratio of more than 2 to 1.”
So record companies introduced two kinds of cassette singles – one that was like a 7-inch vinyl single that held two songs and sold for $1.99. The other was called a cassette maxi-single, which was like a 12-inch record that contained extended or remixed versions of songs. Retail for the latter was $4.98.
In July 1990, cassette singles were tested by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) at 1,000 record stores in the United States. It was a huge success.
“As soon as we had them out in a display, certain titles started to fly,” said the cassette buyer at J&R Record World in New York, Jim Drzik. “At first, I didn’t have too much hope for the idea, but some titles I’ve had to reorder three or four times.”
The idea of the cassette single was not a new one. International Records Syndicate released the Go-Go’s “Vacation” as a cassette single in 1982. At the time, they trademarked the term “cassingle” in hopes that every record company would have to indicate the term was a registered trademark from IRS Records. It would take several more years before Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” would kick off a cassette single revolution.
So on Tuesday, June 12, 1990, the first cassette single for Julee Cruise’s “Falling” was released. At the time, new music was typically released on Tuesdays every week. This practice would continue until a new global release day was changed to Friday on July 10, 2015.
This Warner Bros. Records release has the catalog number 9-19757-4. The cover of the cassette single (not “cassingle”) features the iconic image of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic.
The sleeve back contains the image of Laura Palmer’s Homecoming Queen photo. Both images were taken by Kimberly Wright and packaging was designed by Tom Recchion and Jeri Heiden.
The packaging included a nod to Cruise’s first album released several months early in 1989 and the upcoming Twin Peaks soundtrack album from Warner Bros.
Side A of the black cassette single contained the “Album Version” of Julee Cruise’s “Falling.” Run time was 5-minutes and 18 seconds
Side 1 (not Side B) contained Angelo Badalamenti’s “Falling (Twin Peaks Theme) with the run time of 3-minutes and 59 seconds.
REVIEWS OF JULEE CRUISE’S “FALLING”
A few weeks after the single’s release, the magazine “Network 40” published this review on page 26 of the June 22, 1990 issue.
“The slightly off-center TV series “Twin Peaks” may be over for the season, but judging from the fan mail, both Laura Palmer and the haunting music are still fresh in viewers’ minds. With fans searching in vain for a
“Twin Peaks” soundtrack, and the record label screaming about a Julee Cruise album, the gap is finally closing. First off is Alternative radio’s odd entrance about a month ago. Amid Morrissey and Lou Reed, progressive audiences have discovered that Julee Cruise and
“Twin Peaks” are one in the same. Conse-quently, sales on her album have tripled in the last few weeks. Second is the unique CD single package from Warner Bros. featuring the original Julee Cruise version of “Falling,” along with the Angelo Badalementi instrumental theme used in the series. The package even features photos of prom queen Laura Palmer, and should lead listeners to radio request lines and back to the record stores to pick up more copies of the Julee Cruise LP.”
Months later, “Network 40” ran this review by Diane Tameecha on page 54 of their Aug. 17, 1990 issue. It included the David Lynch-shot publicity photo of Ms. Cruise.
“There’s no denying the fact that Julee Cruise’s career blossomed considerably upon the success of the TV show ‘Twin Peaks.’ America’s rapt attention to the show also brought into focus its theme song, Cruise’s ‘Falling,’ which just so happens to be written and produced by the show’s creator, David Lynch and his musical collaborator, Angelo Badalamenti. Cruise’s feather light style sparked serious airplay at Alternative radio, providing the impetus for Top 20 sales at national Alternative retail accounts. The hypnotic blend of the track’s music and Cruise’s aforementioned downy singing style is an unbeatable combination. All record promoters would love to have an opportunity like this for their debut artists. We hear there will be a new album from Julee sometime this fall, so get it while it’s hot!”
The song would also be released on a promotional CD in advance of the soundtrack. Additionally, the United Kingdom would also have unique releases of Cruise’s hit song. But those are different stories for another time.
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