The Opposition
Encyclopedia
The Opposition is a long running post-punk
band from London, England, that featured Ralph Hall, Marcus Bell, Mark Long, Sterling Campbell, Lol Ford, Terence Devine King and Jean Daniel Glorioso.
Founded in 1979, the Opposition released their first single, “Very Little Glory”, on the independent record label, Double Vision Records. The single received some good press and was soon followed by their first album “Breaking the Silence”(1981), a UK and French tour followed. They then recorded “Intimacy”, and with the press picking up on the band, they switched from indie to major and secured a recording contract with Charisma Records, recording “Promises” (1984). A brief tour of the US followed as support act to Thomas Dolby and extensive touring of Europe before releasing “Empire Days” (1985), still with the engineer Kenny Jones and for the occasion joined by John Porter.
Meanwhile Charisma had been bought by Phonogram who had in turn been engulfed by Virgin and without changing contracts the band found themselves with the third record label in as many albums. It was time for change.
The band took a hiatus in 1987, when Bell and Long began working on more commercial-sounding material under the name So. Ralph was replaced for this project by Sterling Campbell (Drums). Their album “Horseshoe in the Glove” (1986) yielded a minor US hit with the song “Are You Sure”, which, despite receiving a moderate amount of airplay on rock radio and being named an MTV Video of the Week, missed reaching the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #41. After the US experience and two years touring they started playing under the name Opposition again and released the intimist album “Blue Alice Blue” in 1990, again recorded with Kenny Jones. Moving to Mrs Jones Records in 1990, they then released “War Begins at Home” (1994), “EP One” (1995), Sterling then left the group to play with David Bowie and was replaced by Jean Daniel Glorioso for “Blinder” (2004) “EP2” (2010) and "Love & Betrayal" (2011) using the same team of musicians as the "Blinder" album
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
band from London, England, that featured Ralph Hall, Marcus Bell, Mark Long, Sterling Campbell, Lol Ford, Terence Devine King and Jean Daniel Glorioso.
Founded in 1979, the Opposition released their first single, “Very Little Glory”, on the independent record label, Double Vision Records. The single received some good press and was soon followed by their first album “Breaking the Silence”(1981), a UK and French tour followed. They then recorded “Intimacy”, and with the press picking up on the band, they switched from indie to major and secured a recording contract with Charisma Records, recording “Promises” (1984). A brief tour of the US followed as support act to Thomas Dolby and extensive touring of Europe before releasing “Empire Days” (1985), still with the engineer Kenny Jones and for the occasion joined by John Porter.
Meanwhile Charisma had been bought by Phonogram who had in turn been engulfed by Virgin and without changing contracts the band found themselves with the third record label in as many albums. It was time for change.
The band took a hiatus in 1987, when Bell and Long began working on more commercial-sounding material under the name So. Ralph was replaced for this project by Sterling Campbell (Drums). Their album “Horseshoe in the Glove” (1986) yielded a minor US hit with the song “Are You Sure”, which, despite receiving a moderate amount of airplay on rock radio and being named an MTV Video of the Week, missed reaching the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #41. After the US experience and two years touring they started playing under the name Opposition again and released the intimist album “Blue Alice Blue” in 1990, again recorded with Kenny Jones. Moving to Mrs Jones Records in 1990, they then released “War Begins at Home” (1994), “EP One” (1995), Sterling then left the group to play with David Bowie and was replaced by Jean Daniel Glorioso for “Blinder” (2004) “EP2” (2010) and "Love & Betrayal" (2011) using the same team of musicians as the "Blinder" album
Discography
- Breaking The Silence (1980), Double Vision Records
- Intimacy (1983), Double Vision Records
- Promises (1984), Charisma RecordsCharisma RecordsCharisma was a record label founded by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith in 1969. Manager for The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator at the time, Stratton-Smith was unable to find a record company willing to release an album by one of his favourite groups so he founded his own...
- Empire Days (1985), Charisma Records
- Blue Alice Blue (1990), Declic Records
- 81/'82 (1991), Midnight Music
- War Begins At Home (1994), Universal
- Blinder (2004), Mrs Jones Records
- New York, Paris, Peckham (2004), Right Back Records – live albumLive albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
- EP2 (2010), Mrs Jones Records
- Love and Betrayal (2011), Mrs Jones Records