Pop Will Eat Itself

An exuberant, experimental indie act who mixed punk rock's energy and spirit with baggy grooves and studio electronics, Pop Will Eat Itself stood alongside the likes of Carter Unstoppable Sex Machine, The Wonder Stuff and KLF as cult pop antagonists of the late 1980s. Formed in 1981 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England, the band's influences included the funk of James Brown, the wild anarchy of Iggy Pop and the swaggering dance throb of New Order, but it was their love of hip hop acts such as Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and Run DMC that made them stand out on the UK indie scene and they became one of the first rock acts of the era to use samples and remix other artists. Led by frontmen Clint Mansell and Graham Crabb, the band were part of a short lived Midlands scene called "grebo" but built their own loyal following with popular singles Can U Dig It?, Wise Up! Sucker and X Y And Zee and albums Cure For Sanity (1990) and The Looks Or The Lifestyle (1992). Signed to Trent Reznor's label Nothing Records in the US, they made the Top 10 of the UK singles chart with Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies! in 1993 and reached Number 11 with the more industrial sounding fifth album Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994). The band split in 1996 with bassist Richard Marsh and keyboard player going on to form big beat dance act Bentley Rhythm Ace. Mansell relocated to Hollywood and became an acclaimed movie composer and produced the soundtrack to hit movie Black Swan. The group did reform briefly in 2005, before Crabb put together a new line-up in 2011 for gigs with Jesus Jones and The Wonder Stuff.

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