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{fb1FF0000Band Line-up

{fb1000000Clint Mansell Vocals/Guitar
Graham Crabb Vocals
Adam Mole Guitar/Keyboards
Richard March Bass/Guitar
Fuzz Drums

{fb1FF0000The Early Years

{fb1000000Formed in 1986 out of the slagheaps and stagnant pools of middle England's black country wasteland, brandishing guitars and a very refreshing fuck you attitude POP WILL EAT ITSELF arrived on a wave of chainsaw pop and smashed snares as the first band from the hitherto obscure town of Stourbridge. A town that has spawned not only PWEI, but also the Wonderstuff and Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Initially releasing records on the West Midlands based Chapter 22 Records, they had conspicuous success with records such as Poppies say Grrr, Poppiecock, Sweet Sweet Pie, Love Missile F1-11 and Beaver Patrol. These were followed by the extraordinary debut album The Poppies go Box Frenzy produced by Robert Gordon at Fon studios in Sheffield.

Around the time of Love Missile F1-11 PWEI began to mutate into a hippity hoppity poppity group and the new technology was warmly abused and embraced, resulting in the aforementioned album. The Poppies Go Box Frenzy was followed by the ballad There Is No Love Between Us anymore and Def Con 1, which marked a departure from their usual subject matter, in that it concerned itself with (amongst other things) Superpower conflict, Big Macs, Apple Macs and Watchman comics. This record was released just after PWEI had become the first UK independent band to play in the USSR (as it was then) in April 1988.

{fb1FF0000A Major Record Deal

{fb1000000At the end of 1988 PWEI hitched their wagon to the mighty RCA Empire. Releasing two singles Can U Dig It?, Wise Up Sucker and an EP Very Metal Noise Pollution before their second album This Is The Day, This Is The Hour, This Is This in May 1989.

A year later saw the release of Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina, a single in celebration of the World Cup and a vain attempt to persuade FIFA to allow Italian Euro MP and porn star Cicciolina and not the Head of State to present the trophy to the World Cup victors. The record saw PWEI on Top of the Pops for the first time after going to number 28 in the charts.

They followed this up with Dance Of The Mad (number 32) which proceeded their third album Pop Will Eat Itself's Cure For Sanity (number 33).

1991 saw the release of two singles X,Y and Z, and 92 Degrees, chart positions 15 and 23 respectively and two major tours of the US, one co-headlining with EMF.

Next year saw the addition of a drummer called Fuzz who had previously played with Birmingham band Kirks Equator. No-one in the band had touched the drums since Graham Crabb at the end of 1987. The next single, Karmadrome flew into the charts at number 17, followed by six shows at London's Marquee in one week, and another single Bulletproof which reached number 24.

The album from which these tracks were taken was The Looks Or The Lifestyle, and became their best received album thus far, debuting at number 15.

{fb1FF0000Hello Infectious, Goodbye RCA

{fb1000000The new year not only saw the band surprisingly dropped from their record label RCA, but ironically also achieve their first ever top 10 single Get The Girl, Kill The Baddies - released on RCA !!!!!! In shock, the label quickly release a live album Weirds Bar And Grill to capitalise on the situation. After a host of offers to sign another major deal (EMI, Sony and Chrysalis) the band decide to go back to their indie roots, by joining Infectious Records - Majors ? Who needs 'em ??

Later that year saw their first release under their new deal, a double A-sided single RSVP/Familus Horribilus, which saw them back at Number 1 in the Indie Chart, and Top 30 in the national chart. Not to be outdone, RCA released a 'best of...' entitled 16 Different Flavours Of Hell for Christmas of that year. The year ended with the Poppies signing an American deal to Trent Reznor's Nothing label, home of the Nine Inch Nails.

Into 1994 and the band release a strongly anti-fascist single Ich Bin Ein Auslander which is backed up with the first part of
