Their second album, Youthquake, brought Burns and the band international recognition, largely due to the success of the lead single, "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" which reached No.

"[23] Burns also later described his mother's alcoholism, drug addiction, and multiple suicide attempts which were the result of her having suffered a nervous breakdown when she learned the fate of her family members during World War II.

[30] BBC radio producer Graham Robertson recalled Burns's time at Probe: Some kids were scared to go up to the counter when Pete was serving as he was acerbic and scathing but, overall, he was really funny.

My mates would often give me their records to pay for and I would place our selections on the counter and attempt to catch his eye – he was usually permanently immersed in an animated conversation and would often serve you without breaking from it!

"[31][11] In 1977, Burns formed a punk band with contemporaries Julian Cope, Pete Wylie, and Phil Hurst, calling themselves The Mystery Girls.

"[33][34] Burns continued in early-1979 with a new band, Nightmares in Wax (originally called Rainbows Over Nagasaki), featuring a gothic post-punk sound, with backing from keyboardist Martin Healy, guitarist Mick Reid, bassist Rob Jones (who left to be replaced by Walter Ogden), and drummer Paul Hornby (who also exited after the band's formation to be replaced by Phil Hurst).

[35] The group played their first gig supporting Wire at Eric's Club in July 1979,[36] and recorded demos which included a cover of the Simon Dupree and the Big Sound song "Kites", a feature of their early shows.

[47] Burns later said he had wanted to make a "glittery disco record", while Pete Waterman, asked to define the song's sound, said it was "techno-disco; without a question that's what it was.

Despite the international chart-topping success of Youthquake and its lead single, Burns said it was the album that he was "most dissatisfied with" and recalled that "one of the unhappiest days of my life was when Spin Me reached No.

[53] SAW's recording engineer Karen Hewitt recalled the singer appeared to thrive on his often explosive and confrontational dynamic with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken during the album sessions.

[52] Matt Aitken confessed to struggling with Burns' vocal experimentation on the second SAW-produced album, including what he described as the introduction of a displeasing yodel.

[52] He said this changed when Bananarama had major success with their Dead or Alive-inspired cover of "Venus", which Burns claimed encouraged the label to schedule "Brand New Lover" for release.

Originally conceived by Burns as a Halloween release, the horror-themed "Something in My House" was delayed until late December in the UK, amid wrangling between the band and their record company, with the latter feeling the track was "too brutal" to be a single.

[52] Clashes between the band and the label continued over the song's music video, with Epic Records reportedly objecting to a "mildly suggestive" sequence involving Burns and a banana.

[55] "By the time we got to 'Something in My House', I felt I wanted to express myself on film, as well as record, amuse myself, show my sense of humour," Burns wrote on the liner notes to his Evolution: The Videos compilation DVD.

"[56][57] Recording of the song was also fraught, with Burns alleging that producer Mike Stock erased his original vocal take after objecting to the singer's use of the phrase "wicked queen"; a lyrical double entendre implying reference to a gay relationship.

[58] "We would butt heads so fucking badly; it was unbelievable," Burns told journalist James Arena in his book Europe's Stars of 80s Dance Pop.

Another highly controversial 12-inch white label mix, known as "Naughty XXX",[59][60] was released to club DJs, featuring a series of stronger dialogue clips from The Exorcist – with the track described as "unique" in its capacity as the only known example of a "filthy, obscene [and] sexually explicit" Stock Aitken Waterman record.

[61] A third single, "Hooked on Love", failed to make the UK Top 40 amid Burns' battle with the label over their refusal to prioritise his preferred mix, which featured a "Gothic" overtone.

[63] In 1987, Dead or Alive released their greatest hits album Rip It Up, and a concert tour of the same name with dates in Europe, the United States, and Japan.

[66][47] Burns later recalled: "A manager left an answerphone message telling me, 'If you don't want your career to die of cancer like your mother, you should pack your bags.

The pair later formed careers as mixers and producers; both owned and operated Steelworks Studios in Sheffield and experienced success writing and mixing songs for acts like S Club 7, Blue, and Robbie Williams.

I discussed it with Steve, and he and I decided that we didn't want them working half-heartedly on an album that we knew had to be the very best we could make, so we fired them on the spot, and told them to go concentrate on giving 100% to their new career as producers.

[55] Additionally, despite strong customer demand, the US record company refused to release it as a proper single (claiming they objected to the male dancers in the music video) which prevented the song from becoming a major hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

On 6 October, Burns gave a performance at the Tokyo Dome, the largest concert venue in Japan (with a seating capacity of 55,000 people), which was broadcast on the NHK television network.

[80] In 1997, Burns claimed that some of the song covers were included as "album fillers" after studio time to write new material was cut short when "the record label started to fall to bits".

[84] In December 2003, the BBC apologised to its viewers after Burns swore once on its pre-9pm watershed Liquid News show when asked about his views on the Michael Jackson trial.

[104] In January 2007, Burns sued his cosmetic surgeon, Maurizio Viel, who performed his faulty lip surgery, for £1 million;[105] he eventually reached an out-of-court settlement for £450,000.

"[99][113] Soft Cell musician Marc Almond tweeted: "We've had some mad times with Pete but he was a one off creation, a fabulous, fantastic, brilliant creature and always sweet to me.

[114] Boy George paid for the costs of his funeral, despite the two artists' rivalry during their parallel music careers,[115][116] and the fact that Burns accused him of appropriating his image.