Pop Will Eat Itself (also known as
PWEI or
The Poppies, though the latter can refer to a number of other bands) were an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
band formed in
StourbridgeStourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston and Wollescote.The population,...
, with band members from
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
,
CoventryCoventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham with a population of 300,848...
and the
Black CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham.By the late 19th century, this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
.
Early years
An early permutation of the band formed in 1981 under the name From Eden; members included
Clint MansellClint Mansell is a musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of Pop Will Eat Itself.-Pop career:...
, Adam Mole, Chris Fradgley, Malcolm Treece and
Miles HuntMiles Hunt is the singer / guitarist and songwriter for the Stourbridge, England)-based pop band The Wonder Stuff.- Early life :...
(Treece and Hunt famously went on to form
The Wonder StuffThe Wonder Stuff are a band originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:The original line-up was Miles Hunt vocals, guitar , Malcolm Treece guitar, vocals, Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones and Martin Gilks, drums...
). After changing their name to Wild and Wandering (named after a
Wasted YouthWasted Youth may refer to:* Wasted Youth , 1980s hardcore punk band* Wasted Youth , 1980s goth post-punk band* Wasted Youth , Canadian teen punk rock magazine...
album) for a while and recruiting Richard March and Graham Crabb (Graham being the only respondent to replace Miles Hunt on drums), they eventually became Pop Will Eat Itself in 1986, taking the name from a quotation in an
NMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it...
article by
David QuantickDavid Quantick is a freelance journalist, writer and critic who specialises in music and comedy.-Career history:...
about band Jamie Wednesday (later to become better known as
Carter USMCarter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were a British indie rock band formed in 1987 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les "Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style of power pop, fusing samples, sequenced basses and drum machines with rock 'n' roll guitars and...
).
In 1986 the band released the "Poppies Say Grrr!" 7" single. The band honed their songwriting skills with a string of catchy two-minute pop songs released on EPs both as Wild and Wandering and Pop Will Eat Itself. With the help of DJ
Janice LongJanice Long is an English radio broadcaster currently working on BBC Radio 2. Her show is on Sunday to Thursday nights from midnight to 03:00...
, these EPs saw some airplay and enjoyed some popularity among university students. After the band feared they had accomplished all they could with their sound, they found new influences in
hip hopHip hop music is a musical genre which developed alongside hip hop culture, and is commonly based on concepts of loop, rapping, freestyle, DJing, scratching, sampling and beatboxing. The music is used to express concerns of political, social, and personal issues...
acts such as the
Beastie BoysBeastie Boys is an American hip hop group from New York City. The group comprises Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz...
, Run DMC and Public Enemy. Graham soon dropped the drum sticks for a mic and was replaced by a drum machine called "Dr. Nightmare." Their style continued to develop with classics such as "There Is No Love Between Us Anymore' and the anthemic "Def Con One". As a result, PWEI were signed to major label
RCARCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Currently, the RCA trademark is owned by the French conglomerate Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson...
and they achieved top 40 hits with "Can U Dig It?" and "Wise Up! Sucker" off the album
This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This!This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This! is the second album by UK based Grebo band, Pop Will Eat Itself.- Track listing :# "PWEI Is a Four Letter Word" 1:13# "Preaching to the Perverted" 4:27# "Wise Up! Sucker" 3:15...
The RCA years
RCA's larger studio budget allowed the band to develop its potential further, and they released 3 successful albums on that label. The first two (
…This is This! and
Cure for Sanity) were recorded with the aid of legendary producer Flood, known for his work with
Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
,
U2U2 are a rock band that formed in Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr...
,
Depeche ModeDepeche Mode are an English electronic band who formed in 1980, in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
and many other popular 90s groups.
Cure for Sanity was perhaps PWEI's most experimental album, with a more electronic sound than previous efforts. RCA, meanwhile, was more interested in chart success and so wanted the band to cut the lengthy instrumentals from their songs.
On 1992's
The Looks or The Lifestyle, the band recruited a live drummer to complement their standard array of loops and pre-programmed drums and brought back some live guitars. The record was their most commercial and polished work to date and featured top 20 hits like 'Karmadrome' and 'Bulletproof.' By January 1993, however, the band's biggest supporters at RCA had left the company, and the remaining executives didn't understand the band or their music.
http://pweination.org/info/media/features/pweipr52.html The band was dropped from the label before the 'Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!' single was released. Ironically, the single went on to peak at number 9 on the UK singles chart, becoming the band's biggest hit ever. Because of this, the band became the first ever to perform on
Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
without being on a record label. The
British National PartyThe British National Party is a far-right, whites-only political party in the United Kingdom, formed as a splinter group of the British National Front by John Tyndall in 1982. The party's current chairman is Nick Griffin, himself a former national organiser of the National Front.The BNP is not...
had recently caused an uproar in
Tower HamletsThe London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London, England and north of the River Thames in East London, taking in much of the East End. It includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks and Canary Wharf...
by winning a council seat, and it looked possible that the UK would see a revival in far right politics. In response to this,
The Looks or the Lifestyle introduced a hitherto understated political angle, as the album inlay used the "red arrow" emblem of the Anti Nazi League and offered the organisation's address.
Industrial influence
Getting dropped from RCA turned out to be a blessing for the Poppies, as the label agreed to write off the massive debts that the band had accumulated in studio fees in return for PWEI's back catalogue. After a minor bidding war, the Poppies decided to sign to Infectious Records, a label recently started by friend Korda Marshell (who had signed them to RCA in the first place but had since left the label) that offered them the artistic freedom they required.
PWEI's political stance became more explicit with the release of the single "Ich Bin Ein Auslander." A collaboration with Asian group
Fun-Da-MentalFun-Da-Mental is a multi-ethnic, British, world fusion and ethno techno band formed in 1991. The style of the group mixes Eastern and Western musical and cultural influences, featuring British dance club electronics, Indian, Afro-Caribbean, and worldbeat samples...
, the song was a scathing attack on the far right and the apathy that seemed to greet its resurgence. A different version of this song later appeared as the opening track on the 1994 album,
Dos Dedos Mis Amigos.
By this time the band had toned down its garish public persona and veered off in a new and more
industrialIndustrial music is an experimental music style, often including electronic music, that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s to describe Industrial Records artists...
-based direction with the aid of long time fan
Trent ReznorMichael Trent Reznor is an American songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist and founder of the industrial rock musical project known as Nine Inch Nails; he was previously associated with the bands Option 30, Exotic Birds, and Tapeworm, among others. As of 2007, Reznor split his ties with...
. Many fans were upset that the 'Is everybody happy?!' pogoing Poppies were gone and put off by the new direction, but the band found new popularity after signing with Reznor's
Nothing RecordsNothing Records was an American record label, specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by Trent Reznor and John Malm, Jr. in 1992. It is considered an example of a vanity label, where an artist is able to run a label, with some degree of independence, from within a larger...
in the US and touring with
Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, as well as having their songs used on the
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
game
LoadedLoaded is a science fiction-themed top-down shoot em up or run and gun video game that was developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Interplay. Loaded was released in late 1995–early 1996 on both the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn...
.
The following year the band released the Dos Dedos remix album
Two Fingers My Friends which featured remixes by
The OrbThe Orb are an English electronic music group known for popularising chill out music in the 1990s and spawning the genre of ambient house. Founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and KLF member Jimmy Cauty, The Orb began as ambient and dub DJs in London. Their early performances were inspired by ambient...
,
Apollo 440Apollo 440 are an English musical band formed in 1990 in Liverpool by brothers Trevor and Howard Gray with fellow Liverpudlians Noko and James Gardner, although Gardner left after the recording of the first album. All members sing and add a profusion of samples, electronics, and computer-based...
,
Renegade SoundwaveRenegade Soundwave was an electronic music group. Formed in London in 1986, the group originally consisted of Danny Briottet, Gary Asquith and Carl Bonnie.-History:...
and many more. It was about this time that Graham Crabb left the band and they recruited 'The Buzzard' of Yeah! God (who had recorded 'wild guitar' on previous albums but was never a full time member) and Clint took over full vocal duties. The band continued down the industrial route and were still recording and touring until 1996, even recording a collaboration with The Prodigy. However, the band took a break before finishing production of their next album with Trent Reznor, and while not officially splitting, failed to complete the work citing boredom and musical differences. One track from this period was released, a cover of
Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop." Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars"...
's "Friends," (apparently Gary liked this version of the song so, he reintroduced the song in this form for his later liveshows ) and provides some indication of the band's direction at the time.
Disbanded
Crabb left in 1995 to concentrate on his
ambientAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
side project
Golden Claw MusicsGraham Crabb is a musician, best known for performing in the Grebo rock band, Pop Will Eat Itself .-Biography:...
. After the rest of the band split in 1996, March and Townshend went on to form
big beatBig beat is a term employed since the mid 1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, Propellerheads and The Prodigy, typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in...
band
Bentley Rhythm AceBentley Rhythm Ace are a duo formed in Birmingham, England in the late 1990s consisting of Mike Stokes and Richard March.-Career:...
. Townshend also released two solo albums and Mansell has written a number of acclaimed film scores, including
Requiem for a Dream,
π,
DoomDoom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the popular Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and was released in the United States on October 21, 2005 and in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2005.On February 7, 2006, the Unrated...
,
The Fountain and
The Wrestler .
Reformation
The band reformed to play their first gigs in eight years, in Nottingham, Birmingham, and London in January 2005. Many thought this would never happen, as the band had apparently lost all the tapes and disks of samples and backing tracks they needed to perform live. When this material was later found in a friend's garden shed, they decided to reform. These gigs were notable for their
Instant LiveInstant Live is a service by Live Nation which provides for the distribution of digital live recordings of concerts and music events, available soon after a performance has ended...
albums, whereby ten minutes after the completion of each gig, one could buy a double-disc live album of the performance.
The band released a preview of new material called "Sonic Noise Byte" on 4 November 2005, as a torrent download for members of their official website
pweination. However, an announcement on the official website in March 2006 confirmed that Clint and Rich would no longer be involved in the project due to other work commitments, effectively ending the PWEI reformation, though future new PWEI material has not been ruled out entirely. However the remaining band members plan to continue as
VileevilsVileevils are an electronic dance duo, formed when the 2005 reunion of Pop Will Eat Itself failed to become a full-time project. Singer Clint Mansell and guitarist Richard March were too busy with side projects to dedicate themselves to writing and performing new material, and so the remaining...
and have released the tracks "Retro Dreaming" and "Street Fightin" for download via the pweination website.
A secret, one-night PWEI reunion was scheduled to happen at the Vileevils show at Stourbridge Rock Cafe on June 9, 2007, but was foiled when Mansell was unable to obtain a visa in time to fly back to England.
http://pweination.co.uk/newnation/comms/index.php?showtopic=5385&st=180&p=43451&#entry43451 March still appeared at the show, and after the Vileevils set they played the planned PWEI songs, sans Mansell.
The Designers Republic
The band produced approximately 100 T-shirt designs, including a design which subverts the familiar "PEPSI" cola logo by replacing the legend "PEPSI" with "PWEI" and the phrase "Sample It, Loop It, Fuck It, Eat It" encircling the design. Other T-shirts feature the outlandish (often space-themed) cartoon characters that appear on the band's album artwork, from the round headed alien with toy ray gun known as 'Craig' (thought to be named after the band's manager, Craig Jennings), to the jagged toothed, sinister robotic head (complete with futuristic earpiece) that serves as the official logo for all "PWEI Product". At one stage in the 1990s, it was, possibly apocryphally, observed that PWEI had sold more T-shirts than actual records.
Almost all artwork and corporate identity for the band's record sleeves and merchandising was designed by the now hugely successful Sheffield-based
The Designers RepublicThe Designers Republic was a graphic design studio, founded on 14 July 1986 by Ian Anderson, and based in Sheffield, England. It was known for its anti-establishment aesthetics, while simultaneously embracing brash consumerism and the uniform style of corporate brands, such as Orange and Coca-Cola...
. Much of what would become the design company's metatextual and self-referencing motifs were first carved out on the sleeve of PWEI records.
The Designers Republic's work with PWEI can be found in the
Design MuseumThe Design Museum is a museum by the River Thames near Tower Bridge in central London, England. The museum covers product, industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design...
, London.
The mysterious Vestan Pance
All PWEI songs were credited to a mysterious figure called Vestan Pance. He was a pseudonym for the band as a whole, because each member of the band generally wrote his own part of a song or at least had some creative input. Using a pseudonym was considered more interesting than just "All songs by Pop Will Eat Itself." Besides, it gave the Poppies a chance to exercise their humour, especially considering the obvious pun on the English idiom "vest and pants". When Fuzz joined the band, a daring attempt to change the name to "Vestan Pance and Socks" was denied by RCA.
Albums
- Box Frenzy
Box Frenzy is the debut album from the group Pop Will Eat Itself. It was released in 1987 by Chapter 22 Records in the UK and Rough Trade Records in the US, and re-released in 2003 with bonus tracks by Castle Records....
(1987)
- Now for a Feast! (1988)
- This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This!
This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This! is the second album by UK based Grebo band, Pop Will Eat Itself.- Track listing :# "PWEI Is a Four Letter Word" 1:13# "Preaching to the Perverted" 4:27# "Wise Up! Sucker" 3:15...
(1989) UKThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus.To qualify for the UK albums...
#24
- Cure for Sanity
-Track listing:#"The Incredible P.W.E.I. vs The Moral Majority"#"Dance of the Mad Bastards"#"88 Seconds... & Still Counting"#"X Y & Zee"#"City Zen Radio 1990/2000 FM"#"Dr...
(1990) (expanded reissue in 1991) UK #33
- The Looks or the Lifestyle?
The Looks or the Lifestyle? is the fourth album by UK based Grebo band, Pop Will Eat Itself. This album is considered to the blueprints to the later album Dos Dedos Mis Amigos, as it features a heavier and darker sound on some of the tracks...
(1992) UK #15
- Weird's Bar and Grill (Live) (1993) UK #44
- 16 Different Flavours of Hell (Best of) (1993) UK #73
- Dos Dedos Mis Amigos
Dos Dedos Mis Amigos is the last album from UK alternative band Pop Will Eat Itself. The album was somewhat different from PWEI's other albums, as it had more of an industrial influence and fewer samples were used.-The Album:...
(1994) UK #11
- Two Fingers My Friends!
Two Fingers My Friends is an album of remixes of tracks from Pop Will Eat Itself's 1994 album, Dos Dedos Mis Amigos. It was released in two forms, a single disc version and a limited edition double disc set and features remixes by various electronic, industrial and hip-hop artists such as The Orb,...
(1995) UK #25
- Wise Up Suckers (BMG best of) (1996)
- The Radio 1 Sessions 1986-87 (1997)
- PWEI Product 1986-1994 (Anthology) (2002)
- Reformation: Nottingham Rock City 20.01.05 (2005)
- Reformation: Birmingham Carling Academy 22.01.05 (2005)
- Reformation: Birmingham Carling Academy 23.01.05 (2005)
- Reformation: London Shepherds Bush Empire 24.01.05 (2005)
- Reformation: London Shepherds Bush Empire 25.01.05 (2005)
- The Best Of (2008)
EPs
- 2000 Light Ales from Home (1986) under the name 'Wild And Wandering'
- The Poppies Say GRRrrr! (1986)
- Poppiecock (1986)
- Very Metal Noise Pollution (1989) UK
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
#45
- Amalgamation (1994)
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Chart positions |
Album |
| UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
|
U.S. Modern Rock |
| 1987 |
"Sweet Sweet Pie" |
- |
- |
Now for a Feast |
| "Love Missile F1-11" |
- |
- |
| "Beaver Patrol" |
- |
- |
Box Frenzy |
| 1988 |
"There Is No Love Between Us Anymore" |
66 |
- |
| "Def. Con. One" |
63 |
30 |
This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This! |
| 1989 |
"Can U Dig It" |
38 |
- |
| "Wise Up! Sucker" |
41 |
- |
| 1990 |
"Touched by the Hand of Cicciolina" |
28 |
- |
Cure for Sanity |
| "Dance of the Mad" |
32 |
- |
| 1991 |
"X Y & Zee" |
15 |
11 |
| "92 Degrees" |
23 |
- |
| 1992 |
"Karmadrome/Eat Me Drink Me Love Me" |
17 |
- |
The Looks or the Lifestyle |
| "Bulletproof!" |
24 |
- |
| 1993 |
"Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!" |
9 |
- |
| "RSVP / Familius Horribilus" |
27 |
- |
Dos Dedos Mis Amigos |
| 1994 |
"Ich Bin Ein Auslander" |
28 |
- |
| "Everything's Cool" |
23 |
- |
Videos
- Unspoilt by Progress VHS (1991)
- Reformation: Birmingham Carling Academy 23.01.05 DVD (2005)
External links