The Pop Group
Encyclopedia
The Pop Group are a British
post-punk
band
from Bristol
, England
, formed in 1978, whose dissonant sound spanned punk
, free jazz
, funk
and dub reggae
. Their lyrics were often political in nature. They are thought of as precursors of the Bristol Sound that developed into bands like Massive Attack
and Portishead.
(lyrics, vocals), Jon Waddington (guitar), Gareth Sager
(guitar), Simon Underwood (bass) and Bruce Smith (drums, percussion), they issued their debut single, "She is Beyond Good and Evil" on Radar Records
in March 1979.
Their debut album Y
, was produced
by Dennis Bovell
to critical acclaim but low sales figures. Although it did not chart, the album's success was sufficient to convince Rough Trade
to sign the band, but not before more line-up changes, with Dan Catsis
replacing Underwood on bass.
The band's career with Rough Trade commenced with what is possibly their best-known single "We Are All Prostitutes", which featuring a guest appearance by free improviser
Tristan Honsinger
on cello. This was followed by the release of their second album, For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? in 1980, which included a contribution from US proto-rappers The Last Poets
.
Shortly afterwards The Pop Group released a split single, "Where There's a Will...", with The Slits
, a band with whom they now shared a drummer and managers (Christine Robertson and Dick O'Dell), as well as a growing interest in exploring musical genres such as dub and funk
rhythms.
The band split in 1981, after legal wranglings and internal disagreements. Members of the group went on to join bands including Pigbag
, Maximum Joy
, Head
and Rip Rig + Panic, the latter notable for the involvement of Neneh Cherry
. Stewart collaborated with the On-U Sound posse, issuing records firstly as Mark Stewart and Maffia, then as a solo artist.
The Pop Group's poster for "We Are All Prostitutes" featured prominently in episode 2 of the BBC
series Ashes to Ashes
.
It was reported on 24 May 2010 that the Pop Group would be reuniting. Stewart announced the first two dates of a reunion tour. Three members of the original line up are part of the reunion with two gigs in London and two in Italy confirmed. The band issued a statement explaining the reunion, saying "There was a lot left undone,....we were so young and volatile....Let's face it, things are probably even more fucked now than they were in the early 80's.....and we are even more fucked off!"
The Pop Group played live in Paris (for the very first time) on September 6, 2010, at La Machine Du Moulin Rouge venue, as part of "L'Etrange Festival" Film Festival, and as a kick off to their five dates tour through Europe and later played London on New Years Eve with Sonic Youth and Shellac.
In a 2010 interview, Stewart said that the reformed Pop Group was recording a new album, to be titled The Alternate.
The band have been chosen to perform a rare U.S. show at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror
festival curated by ATP & Portishead in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
post-punk
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
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England 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, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, formed in 1978, whose dissonant sound spanned punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and dub reggae
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
. Their lyrics were often political in nature. They are thought of as precursors of the Bristol Sound that developed into bands like Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
and Portishead.
Career
Formed by Mark StewartMark Stewart (musician)
Mark Stewart is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. A pioneer of industrial hip-hop, he has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records.-Career:...
(lyrics, vocals), Jon Waddington (guitar), Gareth Sager
Gareth Sager
Gareth Sager is a British guitarist, keyboardist, musician and songwriter, who has played in several British groups.He moved to Scotland with his family and attended George Watsons College from 1965 till 1970. Sager was a member of the Bristol acts The Pop Group, Rip Rig + Panic , Float Up CP and...
(guitar), Simon Underwood (bass) and Bruce Smith (drums, percussion), they issued their debut single, "She is Beyond Good and Evil" on Radar Records
Radar Records
Radar Records was a UK-based record label formed by Martin Davis who had previously worked at United Artists Records, and Andrew Lauder, who had previously been head of A&R at the UK divisions of Liberty Records and United Artists...
in March 1979.
Their debut album Y
Y (album)
Y is the debut album by English band The Pop Group, released in 1979.-Critical Reception:Internet rock music historian Piero Scaruffi ranks Y as the 23rd greatest rock album of all time...
, was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell is a reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer. He was a member of the British reggae band Matumbi, and released dub-reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym 'Blackbeard'....
to critical acclaim but low sales figures. Although it did not chart, the album's success was sufficient to convince Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
to sign the band, but not before more line-up changes, with Dan Catsis
Glaxo Babies
Glaxo Babies were a Bristol-based UK post-punk group, formed in late 1977. There were three distinct phases in the bands life and after initially breaking up in 1980, they reformed in 1985, only to finally break-up again in 1990.-First phase:...
replacing Underwood on bass.
The band's career with Rough Trade commenced with what is possibly their best-known single "We Are All Prostitutes", which featuring a guest appearance by free improviser
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
Tristan Honsinger
Tristan Honsinger
Tristan Honsinger is a cello player active in free jazz and free improvisation. He is perhaps best known for his long-running collaboration with free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor and guitarist Derek Bailey....
on cello. This was followed by the release of their second album, For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? in 1980, which included a contribution from US proto-rappers The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
.
Shortly afterwards The Pop Group released a split single, "Where There's a Will...", with The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
, a band with whom they now shared a drummer and managers (Christine Robertson and Dick O'Dell), as well as a growing interest in exploring musical genres such as dub and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
rhythms.
The band split in 1981, after legal wranglings and internal disagreements. Members of the group went on to join bands including Pigbag
Pigbag
-Origin and formation:Pigbag were formed in Cheltenham in late 1980 by Chris Hamlin, a fashion student at Cheltenham Art College. Hamlin recruited multi-instrumentalist Roger Freeman, an old friend from his hometown of Birmingham, along with Chris Lee on trumpet and James Johnstone, a guitarist,...
, Maximum Joy
Maximum Joy
Maximum Joy were a post-punk band from Bristol, England.When the Glaxo Babies split in 1979, Tony Wrafter formed Maximum Joy with Janine Rainforth , and they were later joined by Dan Catsis and Charlie Llewellin , and John Waddington...
, Head
Head (band)
-History:After making three albums and a few singles the Bristol-based combo faded away. Nick Sheppard previously played in The Cortinas and The Clash...
and Rip Rig + Panic, the latter notable for the involvement of Neneh Cherry
Neneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...
. Stewart collaborated with the On-U Sound posse, issuing records firstly as Mark Stewart and Maffia, then as a solo artist.
The Pop Group's poster for "We Are All Prostitutes" featured prominently in episode 2 of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to Ashes (TV series)
Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars.The series began airing on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009...
.
It was reported on 24 May 2010 that the Pop Group would be reuniting. Stewart announced the first two dates of a reunion tour. Three members of the original line up are part of the reunion with two gigs in London and two in Italy confirmed. The band issued a statement explaining the reunion, saying "There was a lot left undone,....we were so young and volatile....Let's face it, things are probably even more fucked now than they were in the early 80's.....and we are even more fucked off!"
The Pop Group played live in Paris (for the very first time) on September 6, 2010, at La Machine Du Moulin Rouge venue, as part of "L'Etrange Festival" Film Festival, and as a kick off to their five dates tour through Europe and later played London on New Years Eve with Sonic Youth and Shellac.
In a 2010 interview, Stewart said that the reformed Pop Group was recording a new album, to be titled The Alternate.
The band have been chosen to perform a rare U.S. show at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
festival curated by ATP & Portishead in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Albums
- YY (album)Y is the debut album by English band The Pop Group, released in 1979.-Critical Reception:Internet rock music historian Piero Scaruffi ranks Y as the 23rd greatest rock album of all time...
(April 1979, Radar RecordsRadar RecordsRadar Records was a UK-based record label formed by Martin Davis who had previously worked at United Artists Records, and Andrew Lauder, who had previously been head of A&R at the UK divisions of Liberty Records and United Artists...
; reissued on CD by Radar in 1996 and Rhino Records in 2007) - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? was released on the Rough Trade label in 1980 by UK post-punk band The Pop Group. It featured a collaboration with American musical/poetry groupThe Last Poets...
(March 1980, Rough Trade RecordsRough Trade RecordsRough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
- included collaboration with The Last PoetsThe Last PoetsThe Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
) - We Are Time (December 1980, Rough Trade semi-bootlegBootleg recordingA bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
compilationCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
of live tracks, demosDemo (music)A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
and out-takes) - We Are All Prostitutes (retrospective compilation album, 1998, Radar Records)
- Idealists In Distress from Bristol (official bootleg compilation album, 2007, Vinyl Japan, double CD, Japan only release)
Singles
- "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" / "3.38" (March 1979, Radar Records)
- "We Are All Prostitutes" / "Amnesty International Report" (October 1979, Rough Trade Records)
- "Where There's A Will There's A Way" (March 1980, Rough Trade (split release with The SlitsThe SlitsThe Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
: "In the Beginning There Was Rhythm")
External links
- Official website
- Trailer The Pop Group/Mark Stewart documentary
- Fan site
- http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/299Review of Y on HeadHeritage, Julian CopeJulian CopeJulian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
's site]