Remembering Adrian Borland
There must be a hole in my memory, because I can’t find what connects September with Adrian or The Sound. What I do find is the sadness that runs through his story, the kind that never needed a date to be remembered.
Adrian Borland was never a superstar, never the voice filling radio airwaves, never the sound blasting in stadiums. But his songs carried the kind of truth that outlives fame—urgent, aching, unforgettable.
The Sound and the silence of success
In 1985, The Sound released Heads and Hearts, the album that carried “Total Recall.” It never became a radio hit, but in the Philippines it turned into an underground anthem. In countless living room parties—with “mobile” DJs hauling speakers into cramped spaces, a lone strobe light flashing, and friends dancing… But behind that new wave of happiness was the sadness that Adrian himself could never escape. His music reached across oceans, even as he remained in the shadows.
The battle inside
As the years went on, Adrian faced more than just disappointment. He struggled with depression, paranoia, and symptoms close to schizophrenia. He heard voices. He felt hunted by fears that never left him. Even when The Sound ended in 1988, he couldn’t stop making music. Solo albums followed, each one sounding more like diary pages turned into music.
Music was his medicine and his wound. It kept him alive, and at the same time, it drained him.
The last day
On April 26, 1999, Adrian was on his way to the studio to finish another solo album. But he never arrived. That morning, he stepped in front of a train in Wimbledon. He was only 41.
It was the end of a life marked by brilliance, struggle, and sadness too heavy to carry any longer.
The light that remains
Yet Adrian Borland’s story doesn’t stop on that track in Wimbledon. His voice, his words, his music—they’re still alive. Every time “Total Recall” plays, every time someone discovers one of his solo records, Adrian lives again in the sound he left behind.
The sadness may have taken his life, but the beauty he created out of it remains. And now I remember—September is Suicide Prevention Month—but there must be a hole in our memory.
𝚃𝚢𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎 • 𝖽𝖺𝗋𝖾𝗆.𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗂𝖼.𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀
