The Flowerpot Men - "Beat City"

So here's a song that you know, but you forgot that you know, and once you remember that you know it you'll say to yourself: "Oh yeah! I love this song!"

The song in question is the infamous "Beat City" by Britain's The Flowerpot Men.

This song has an interesting history. It's immortalized by the John Hughes classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off from 1986. We all remember the scene: Ferris has just picked up the beautiful Sloan from high-school and, along with best friend Cameron, he cruises into Chicago. As we see an aerial shot of the city's skyline, an early-U2-esque/new-wave rocker jams in the background:

Beat city now now,
Beat beat,
Beat city now now,
Woo-oo-oo!

John Hughes certainly knew how to capture an era. The song oozes eighties new-wave and rock. At the same time, it has a timeless quality about it. It's also so unbelievably catchy that nine out of ten people I ask about it totally remember it and instantly can sing along, even though they certainly don't own the record and have never heard of the Flowerpot Men.

Why am I so confident that you don't own the record? Because getting it is next to impossible. My journey and history in obtaining it was literally five years in the making.

In 2002 or 2003 I was watching the movie when it dawned on me that I love the song and I had to own it. My first step in obtaining it was easy enough. I watched the end credits and found out what it was called and who performed/wrote it. The Flowerpot Men. "Who are these guys?" I was almost embarrassed to ask friends about the band because I assumed, since my eighties new-wave knowledge is spotty, that most music buffs knew all about them and that I was just ignorant. Finally, I asked around. No one had heard of them. Strange. So I searched the web. There was next to no information. The information I did glean stated that the Flowerpot Men were a minor act from the period and I spotted a few records of theirs on ebay. The next step was to find out which record contained the hit. After trolling obscure music forums someone finally posted the answer: "Beat City" could be found on the Flowerpot Men's "Janice Long Session" EP. Bingo.

Six months past while I tried to locate the record. It never came up on ebay. It never showed its face on Gemm. Record Stores weren't even close. Finally, I saw it on the web on one of Gemm's minor competitor sites. I honestly don't remember the site's name, but there it was, for a totally reasonable 15 bucks. I snatched it up.


When it arrived at my house, I put it on the turntable with unbelievable anticipation. I had never heard the entire song (only the snippet used in the film). I have to admitt that when I did listen to it, I was disappointed. Why?

The "Janice Long Session" version of "Beat City" is not the version in the movie.

I cannot stress this fact enough. While the EP does contain "Beat City", the version found here is a live-in-studio take that lacks the quality (both sonically and performance-wise) of the original we all know. I should have seen this coming. It was a Janice Long record! Of course it would be live-in-studio! Although I was happy to own any version of the tune, I knew I wouldn't be totally satisfied until I owned the version in the movie.

A couple years past. Finally, I got a nugget of priceless information from another music forum. The song, in its original form, was only pressed 500 times on a 45, with a B-side of The Blue Room's "I'm Afraid". The record is credited to the fictitious "Fireball Records". The final bit of information was very disheartening. The record, which only exhists in 500 units, was available exclusively to members of the John Hughes fan club in 1986, and was mailed out as a promotional item for Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I was boned. There was no way I would find it.

Or would I? In 2006 I saw it on Gemm for 20 bucks. I jumped on it. The seller replied that he had just sold it. No! In 2007 I saw it on ebay, but I was outbid in the last minute. The record sold for over 50 bucks. Damn!

In 2009, I checked ebay again, just for shits and giggles. There it was. The price was at $5.99 with two day left to bid. The stars aligned for me. Nobody (and I think it was nobody because the record is so little known) bid on it and I got it for the six dollar price.

I now own this weird piece of music history, and I have to say it was totally worth the wait. Any time I play it at a party, somebody always approaches me asking what it is and wondering how he or she knows it. It's a fun story to tell, as now I consider myself an expert on the song and its quirky background.

Here's a link to the mp3 of the song.

Enjoy!