Pop Will Eat Itself…..they really shouldn’t need an introduction, but hey! Formed in 1986 in Stourbridge, a town in the English Midlands. Kicked around till 1996, reformed briefly in 2005 and then for a second time in 2010, and they are still entertaining the masses today. There have been 35 singles/EPs and nine albums across many different labels, with fourteen of the singles making it into the Top 75, while four albums went Top 40.
mp3: Black Country Chainsaw Massacreee – Pop Will Eat Itself
Track 4, Disc 2 of CD86.
This was the lead-track on Poppycock, a five-song EP released in 1986 and their first for Chapter 22 Records, a label based in Warwick.
All five tracks on the EP were short and sharp – none of them reached the two-minute mark and are very much of their time and place. By 1988, the band’s sound had changed completely, fusing a range of genres and heavily incorporating samples. They soon became chart staples, including a run of twelve Top 40 hits between 1989 and while part of RCA Records.
The Pastels……well, they already have been introduced in an earlier part of this series.
mp3: Breaking Lines – The Pastels
Track 10 on side 1 of the C86 cassette; Track 10, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
The Pastels had already released five singles prior to appearing on C86. These had been recorded across three different London-based labels – Waaam! Records (owned by Dan Treacy of The Television Personalities), Rough Trade and Creation. They had, however, by then taken their leave of Alan McGee‘s label and signed to another London-based label, Glass Records. Breaking Lines would later in 1986 be issued as a b-side to Truck Train Tractor, their debut for Glass, and one of their finest releases across their long career.
Stump was a band whose members were drawn from Ireland and England, active between 1983 and 1988. They were initially on the Ron Johnson label, with the music being described by some critics as a cross between Captain Beefheart and The Fall. The sole EP on Ron Johnson was released in 1986, after which they contributed to the C86 cassette.
mp3 : Buffalo – Stump
Track 7 on side 1 of the cassette; Track 7, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition.
The next release later in the year was a highly-acclaimed mini-LP, Quirk Out, issued on their own Stuff Records, and it would spend six months in the indie charts, selling something in the region of 50,000 copies. This led to a major label, Chrysalis/Ensign, signing Stump in 1987. The band would make it into the official charts in July 1988, with a #72 hit, Charlton Heston, one of twelve tracks to be found on the debut album A Fierce Pancake. The label then re-released Buffalo (which wasn’t on the album) as a single in late 1988, the sleeve of which is illustrated above. The lack of any real commercial success played a large part in the band calling it a day in 1989.
The Shrubs were from Watford, forming in 1985 and splitting up in 1988. They were signed to Ron Johnson Records, but prior to ever releasing anything for the label, they would find themselves on the C86 cassette:-
mp3: Bullfighter’s Bones – The Shrubs
Track 10 on side 2 of the cassette; Track 21, Disc One of C86 The Deluxe 3CD Edition
This song was only ever made available on the C86 cassette (and subsequent vinyl and CD re-releases)
Their debut six-track EP Full Steam Into The Brainstorm came out on Ron Johnson in July 1986. There would be one further EP and an LP for the label before it collapsed, after which The Shrubs established their own Public Domain Records for one further EP and album before calling it a day.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 