Pop Will Eat Itself (also known as PWEI or the Poppies) were an English band formed in Stourbridge, with band members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Image File history File links P_W_E_I_members. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... Statistics Population: 54,661 (1991) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SO899844 Administration District: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Metropolitan county: West Midlands Region: West Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: West Midlands Historic county: Worcestershire (Until 1974) Services Police force: West Midlands Police Ambulance service: West Midlands... The County of West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England, the United Kingdom, formed in 1974. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Alternative rock (also called alternative music[1] or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Alternative dance (known primarily as indie dance in the United Kingdom) is a term used for the genre of music combining elements of dance-pop (or other forms of electronic dance music such as house or techno) and alternative rock genres such as indie pop. ... Techno is a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan during the mid-1980s with influences from electro, New Wave, Funk and futuristic fiction themes that were prevalent and relative to modern culture during the end of the Cold War in industrial America at that time. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... RCAs logo as seen today on many products. ... Nothing Records was a record label founded by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) and John Malm, Jr. ... Clint Mansell (born Clinton Mansell, 7 January 1963, in Coventry, England) is a musician and composer. ... Robert Fuzz Townshend was born on 31 July 1964. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Statistics Population: 54,661 (1991) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SO899844 Administration District: Dudley Metropolitan Borough Metropolitan county: West Midlands Region: West Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: West Midlands Historic county: Worcestershire (Until 1974) Services Police force: West Midlands Police Ambulance service: West Midlands... This article is about the city in England. ... The Precinct in Coventry city centre. ... The Black Country is a loosely-defined area of conurbation to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton in the English West Midlands, around the South Staffordshire coalfield. ...

Early years

An early version of the band formed in 1981 under the name From Eden; members included Clint Mansell, Adam Mole, Chris Fradgley, Malcolm Treece and Miles Hunt (Treece and Hunt went on to form The Wonder Stuff). After changing their name to Wild and Wandering for a while and recruiting Richard March and Graham Crabb (Graham being the only respondent to replace the 'piss poor' Miles Hunt on drums), they eventually became Pop Will Eat Itself in 1986, taking the name from a quote in an NME article about band Jamie Wednesday (later to become better known as Carter USM). Clint Mansell (born Clinton Mansell, 7 January 1963, in Coventry, England) is a musician and composer. ... Miles Hunt (born 29th July 1966) was the singer / guitarist and songwriter for the Stourbridge (West Midlands UK), based pop band The Wonder Stuff. ... The Wonder Stuff are a band originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England. ... Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (frequently shortened to Carter USM) were formed in 1987 by singer Jim Bob and guitarist Fruitbat. ...

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 John Peel, 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 hop acts such as the Beastie Boys, 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 RCA 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! Autobiography John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, and journalist. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... The Beastie Boys are a hip hop group from the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. ... Run-DMC is a hip hop crew founded by Jason Jam Master Jay Mizell that included Joseph Run Simmons and Darryl DMC McDaniels. ... This article is about the music group. ... RCAs logo as seen today on many products. ...

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 Nails, U2 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. NIN redirects here. ... This article is about the Irish rock band. ...

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. [1] 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 Pops without being on a record label. The British National Party had recently caused an uproar in Tower Hamlets 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. Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a long-running British music chart television programme, made and broadcast by the BBC. It was originally shown each week, mostly on BBC One, from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. ... This article is about the modern party. ... The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is the London borough to the east of the City of London, north of the River Thames in East London. ... The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 to oppose the rise of far-right groups in Britain. ...

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-Mental, the song was 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 industrial-based direction with the aid of long time fan Trent Reznor. 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 Records in the US and touring with Nine Inch Nails, as well as having their songs used on the PlayStation game Loaded. Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. ... Nothing Records was a record label founded by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) and John Malm, Jr. ... NIN redirects here. ... The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ...

The following year the band released the Dos Dedos remix album Two Fingers My Friends which featured remixes by The Orb, Apollo 440, Renegade Soundwave 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 Orbital. Unfortunately, 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 Numan's "Friends," and provides some indication of the band's direction at the time. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Apollo 440 is a British musical band formed in 1990 in Liverpool by brothers Trevor and Howard Gray with fellow Liverpudlian Noko. ... Renegade Soundwave (shortened to RSW) was a London based electronic music group formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1995. ... Orbital were an English techno duo formed in 1989, consisting of brothers Paul (born 19 May 1968) and Phil Hartnoll (born 9 January 1964). ... Gary Numan (born Gary Anthony James Webb on March 8, 1958) is an English singer, composer, musician and electropop pioneer. ...

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 Republic. 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 Museum, London. Incunabula by Autechre, cover design by TDR Appetite for Disctruction by Funkstörung, cover design by TDR WipEout for the Playstation, logo and interface design by TDR The Designers Republic (TDR or miTDR for short) is a group of graphic designers, founded on July 14, 1986 by Ian Anderson, and...

Recent years

Crabb left in 1995 to concentrate on his ambient side project Golden Claw Musics. After the rest of the band split in 1996, March and Townshend went on to form big beat band Bentley Rhythm Ace. Townsend also released two solo albums and Mansell has written a number of acclaimed film scores, including Requiem for a Dream, Pi, Doom, and The Fountain. Ambient music is a loosely defined musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, rock and roll, modern classical music, reggae, traditional, world and even noise. ... Golden Claw Musics was the main musical project of Graham Crabb after he left the band Pop Will Eat Itself in 1995. ... Big beat (sometimes called chemical breaks) is a term devised in the mid 1990s by the British music press as a way of describing the work of The Chemical Brothers, but was defined by the work of Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy. ... Bentley Rhythm Ace is a band formed in Birmingham, England in the late 1990s. ... Requiem for a Dream is a 1978 novel by Hubert Selby, Jr. ... π (or Pi) is a 1998 American psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Fountain is a 2006 science fiction / fantasy film directed by Darren Aronofsky that follows three interwoven narratives that take place in the age of conquistadors, the modern day period, and the far future. ...

The band reformed to play their first gigs in 8 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. There are as yet no plans for further gigs, but the possibility still exists. These gigs were renowned for their Instant Live albums, whereby ten minutes after the completion of each gig, one could buy a double-disc live album of the performance. Instant Live is a service by Clear Channel which provides for the distribution of high quality live recordings of concerts and music events. ...

The band released a preview of new material called "Sonic Noise Byte" on November 4, 2005, as a torrent download for members of their official website pweination. The tracks previewed were as follows: November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Captain Plastic,
• Retro Dreaming,
• The Demon,
• Everyday is a World War,
• Hollow,
• T+A=$,
• Gonna Get You Baby,
• Punk Rock Band,
• Nosebleeder Turbo,
• Wasted.

No official release date for any full version of this new material has been scheduled.

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 Vileevils and have released the tracks "Retro Dreaming" and "Street Fightin" for download via the pweination website.

Discography

Albums

• Box Frenzy (1987)
• Now for a Feast! (1988)
• This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This! (1989) UK #24
• Cure for Sanity (1990) (expanded reissue in 1991) UK #33
• The Looks or the Lifestyle (1992) UK #15
• Weird's Bar And Grill (Live) (1993)
• 16 Different Flavours of Hell (Best of) (1993)
• Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994) UK #11
• Two Fingers My Friends (1995) UK #25
• Wise Up Suckers (BMG best of) (1996)
• Radio 1 Sessions 1986 - 1987 (1997)
• PWEI Product 86-94: The Pop Will Eat Itself Anthology (Anthology) (2002)

EPs

• 2000 Light Ales From Home (1986)
• The Poppies Say Grrr (1986)
• Poppiecock (1986)
• Very Metal Noise Pollution (1989) UK #45
• Amalgamation (1994)

Singles

• Sweet Sweet Pie (1987)
• Love Missile F1-11 (1987)
• Beaver Patrol (1987)
• There Is No Love Between Us Anymore (1988)
• Def. Con. One (1988)
• Can U Dig It? (1989)
• Wise Up! Sucker (1989)
• Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina (1990)
• Dance Of The Mad (1990)
• X Y & Zee (1991)
• 92F (1991)
• Karmadrome/Eat Me Drink Me Love Me Kill Me (1992)
• Bulletproof! (1992)
• Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies! (1993)
• R.S.V.P/Familus Horribilus (1993)
• Ich Bin Ein Auslander (1994)
• Everything's Cool (1994)

Ilona Staller in 2004 Ilona Staller, better known by her stage name Cicciolina, is former politician active in Italys libertarian Partito Radicale, former porn star and disco singer. ...

Chart positions

The UK Singles Chart is currently compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. ... The Modern Rock Tracks chart is a music chart that has appeared in Billboard magazine since the early 1980s. ... See also: 1986 in music, other events of 1987, 1988 in music, 1980s in music and the list of years in music // January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ... See also: 1986 in music, other events of 1987, 1988 in music, 1980s in music and the list of years in music // January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ... See also: 1986 in music, other events of 1987, 1988 in music, 1980s in music and the list of years in music // January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ... See also: 1987 in music, other events of 1988, 1989 in music, 1980s in music and the list of years in music // Events Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra. ... See also: 1989 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1989 Record labels established in 1989 other events of 1989 list of years in music 1980s in music // January 5 - Madonna files for divorce from Sean Penn after three-and-a-half years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. ... See also: 1989 in music, 1990 in British music, other events of 1990, 1991 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // January 21 - MTVs Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical guest, Squeeze February 6 - Billy Idol is involved in a serious motorcycle accident... See also: 1990 in music, other events of 1991, 1992 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // 1991 was the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. ... See also: 1992 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1992 Record labels established in 1992 other events of 1992 list of years in music 1990s in music // 1992 was a pivotal year in the development of music. ... See also: 1993 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1993 Record labels established in 1993 other events of 1993 list of years in music 1990s in music // January 8 - The U.S. Postal service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. ... See also: 1993 in music, other events of 1994, 1995 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music. // Events January 29 - The Supremes Mary Wilson is injured when her jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside of Los Angeles, California. ... Everythings Cool is a single off of the Pop Will Eat Itself album Dos Dedos Mis Amigos released in 1994. ...

External links

• Pop Will Eat Itself official site
• Photos from the 2005 Reformation tour
• The Designers Republic