Pop Will Eat Itself tickets and 2024 tour dates

Biography

Pop Will Eat Itself (also known as PWEI or the Poppies) was a band formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, UK with band members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country.

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 . Graham Crabb was recruited (Graham being the only respondant to replace the 'piss poor' Miles Hunt on drums). After From Eden splintered into two bands (Treece and Hunt went on to form The Wonder Stuff) Mansell, Crabb & Mole formed Wild and Wandering, recruiting Richard March on bass. They eventually became Pop Will Eat Itself in 1986, taking the name from a quote in an NME article about Pop 'eating itself' suggesting that popular music continues to recycle ideas.

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!

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 chart success and so wanted the band to cut the lengthy instrumentals from their songs.

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 was arguably the Poppies' high point, featuring top 20 hits like 'Karmadrome' and 'Bulletproof.' The single 'Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!' registered as the band's biggest hit in January 1993. By this point, RCA had already grown tired of PWEI's stuborness and dropped them before the single was even released (the song went on to peak at 9 in the UK singles chart). 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.

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.