Originally a b-side to the single T.V.O.D., Warm Leatherette was released by The Normal in 1978. The T.V.O.D. single sold reasonably well, though it is ironic that the b-side has eclipsed the original single. It has been covered by Grace Jones and, more recently, Chicks On Speed.

The Normal was actually Daniel Miller, who created the single almost as a hobby project after reading the book Crash. Creating a record label to produce around a hundred copies, Miller was surprised by the record's success. "Warm Leatherette got a much better response than I thought. The people who'd read the book recognized the imagery of the lyrics instantly, and the rest just thought I was some kind of sicko."

Miller would have been pleased to sell all of the hundred copies, but the song was quickly reviewed by Sounds by which it was referred to as the 'single of the century'. A quick pressing of a few thousand produced appropriate sales, and an unexpected American cult hit followed. The success of Warm Leatherette kick-started Mute Records, which has since grown to an international independent label.

The song's link to Crash, as Daniel Miller readily states, is blatant and up-front. Hear the crashing steel, feel the steering wheel is repeatedly intoned over a bleak aural landscape of teutonic-electronic buzzing. The erotic leanings of the song are underpinned by its blatant futility: Quick, let's make love before you die. Three and a half minutes of minimalist electronics take place on the warm leatherette interior of a crashed car, amidst crushed steel and broken glass, the imprint of the steering wheel livid on the flesh, her thigh pierced by the handbrake. It's a masterpiece...