Motels (album)

Motels is the first studio album by new wave band the Motels, recorded in the spring of 1979 and released in the fall. It was produced by Carter. It peaked at number 175 on Billboard's album chart in December. The album was certified Gold in Australia in 1980, where it had reached number 23 on the Kent Music Report.

On May 12, 1979 (Mother's Day), the Motels signed with Capitol Records. The band began recording on May 14 and finished in the first week of September. The band consisted of Martha Davis (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Jourard (lead guitar), Marty Jourard (keyboard, saxophone), Michael Goodroe (bass) and Brian Glascock (drums).

The first single, "Closets and Bullets", did not chart anywhere, but the second, "Total Control", became a top 10 hit in Australia, went top 20 in France, and reached number 109 in the US (on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart). A third single, "Anticipating", was released in Japan in early 1980 but failed to chart.

Anna Oxa recorded "Total Control" in Italian as "Controllo totale" with lyrics by Marco Luberti, and it was released as a single in Italy in 1980. Tina Turner contributed "Total Control" to the 1985 We Are the World album, an American superstar charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia.