Ultravox - Passing Strangers

What this video is

Released 26 September 1980 on Chrysalis Records as the second single from the Vienna album — Ultravox's first record with frontman Midge Ure — 'Passing Strangers' arrived at a pivotal moment when British new wave was crystallising into the New Romantic movement. The band occupied an unusual position: sonically recalling the John Foxx-era art-punk sound while stylistically anticipating the theatrical,…

Why it matters

A critical early document of the British new wave's cinematic turn, this video demonstrates Russell Mulcahy's embryonic vocabulary — industrial location, atmospheric lighting, theatrical performance — that he would refine into one of the defining visual languages of 1980s pop. As Ultravox's first…

The director

Australian director born 23 June 1953 in Melbourne. Began career directing music videos in Australia before relocating to the UK in the late 1970s. Directed The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star' (1979), the first video ever aired on MTV. Co-founded…