science

Mirror in the Bathroom

Mirror in the Bathroom is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mirror in the Bathroom rather than just read about it. In short: "Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by the English ska band the Beat, released as a single in 1980 from their debut studio album I Just Can't Stop It. It reached number 4 on the UK singles chart and consequently was their highest charting release in the UK until 1983.

Key takeaways

Mirror in the Bathroom belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mirror in the Bathroom to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mirror in the Bathroom from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by the English ska band the Beat, released as a single in 1980 from their debut studio album I Just Can't Stop It. It reached number 4 on the UK singles chart and consequently was their highest charting release in the UK until 1983. It was released again in 1995 as a 12" single and early in 1996 as a CD single (both containing contemporary club remixes) to promote B.P.M.: The Very Best of the Beat. The reissued single reached number 44 in 1996. The song was ranked at #3 among the top ten "Tracks of the Year" for 1980 by NME.

Composition According to composer and singer Dave Wakeling,

The lyrics were written when I was working on a construction site. I’d had a couple of drinks the night before, and forgot to hang up my clothes to dry for the next day.... I was shaving in the mirror, with the hangover and the wet clothes, and the thought of trying to break up frozen sand to put into the concrete machine was not that tasty. And I started talking to myself in the mirror, and said, “Dave, we don’t have to do this, mate. We don’t have to do this.” And in the mirror behind me, the door of the bathroom had a tiny little latch on it, and I said to myself, “The door’s locked. There’s only me and you. Just me and you here. We don’t have to do this.” And of course we did, because we needed money for Guinness that night. On his way to work on his motorbike, he thought about the idea of "The door is locked, just you and me"; and reflected on the nature of narcissism:

And you'd see it perhaps on Saturday afternoon with people window shopping, half the time they're actually just looking at their own reflection. Then this restaurant opened, and it was a big deal at the time because it had glass tables, and I was like, oh, you can watch yourself. When he first heard David Steele's "revolutionary" 2/2 bassline, he thought, "Wow, that poem I was writing on the motorbike fits it like a glove." The title of the song led some to believe, mistakenly, that it was about drawing lines of cocaine on a mirror. Wakeling says that "in America in the early '80s, everybody gave me knowing winks and said, 'Oh, I know what that one's about, then, Dave.' And it wasn't that mirror in the bathroom at all, it was the one on the wall, and not the one on your knee."

Release Jerry Dammers wanted the Beat to release "Mirror in the Bathroom" as their first single for his company 2 Tone Records, but Chrysalis Records, 2 Tone's parent company, refused to allow them to release it as a single. Instead, they released a ska version of the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song "The Tears of a Clown". When that record was successful, the Beat formed their own label, Go-Feet Records, which released "Mirror in the Bathroom". It was released in April 1980 and reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

Critical reception "Mirror in the Bathroom" was ranked at No. 3 in the NME "Tracks of the Year" list for 1980, and at No. 24 in Sounds magazine's "Singles of the Year" list for 1980. In 2003, Q magazine ranked the song at No. 517 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2002, Gary Mulholland included the song in his list This is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco.

Later releases The single was re-released on 21 April 2012 for Record Store Day 2012 as a limited edition 750 run of 7" copies. Its B-side is "Too Nice to Talk To". Ranking Roger's album Pop Off the Head Top includes a new remix version of "Mirror in the Bathroom" produced by Gaudi. The song is included in the soundtracks of the films Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and SLC Punk! (1999), by a project called Fifi.

1990s reissues 12" single, 74321232061 (1995)

"Mirror in the Bathroom" (Sure Is Pure Remix) "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Tic Tac Toe Remix) "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Simon and Diamond Remix) "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Adelphi Remix) A promo 12" containing only the first two tracks (VAIN 001) was also released. CD single, 74321232062 (January 8, 1996)

"Mirror in the Bathroom" (Mark "Spike" Stent Remix) — 3:28 "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Tic Tac Toe Remix) — 5:41 "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Adelphi Remix) — 4:45 "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Original Version) — 3:08

Charts

Certifications

References

External links "Mirror in the Bathroom" at Discogs (list of releases)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mirror in the Bathroom

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mirror in the Bathroom claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mirror in the Bathroom before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mirror in the Bathroom ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mirror in the Bathroom

In research: Mirror in the Bathroom appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mirror in the Bathroom in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mirror in the Bathroom is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980 singles, 1980 songs, 1995 singles, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mirror in the Bathroom outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mirror in the Bathroom in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mirror in the Bathroom means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mirror in the Bathroom out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mirror in the Bathroom in simple terms?

Why does Mirror in the Bathroom matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mirror in the Bathroom?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mirror in the Bathroom.