Line #102 Music/PopWillEatItself


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pwei_9.jpg]]
2
3	->''If they come to ethnically cleanse me?\
4	Will you speak out? Will you defend me?\
5	Freedom of expression doesn't make it alright!\
6	Trampled underfoot by the rise of the right!''
7	-->-- "Ich Bin Ein Auslander"
8
9	Pop Will Eat Itself (PWEI or The Poppies for short) were an AlternativeRock band from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, active initially from 1986 to 1996. Their sampletastic, RapRock and {{Industrial}}-influenced style was nicknamed "Grebo" in music magazines like ''NME'' and ''Melody Maker'', largely from their songs "Oh Grebo I Think I Love You" (from ''Now for a Feast!'') and "Grebo Guru" (from ''Box Frenzy''). They're nowadays rather more famous for being the band film score composer Clint Mansell started his career in than their actual music.
10
11	The band was first formed in 1981 under the name From Eden, with its members being Clint Mansell, Adam Mole, Chris Fradgley, Malcolm Treece and Miles Hunt, the latter two later becoming famous in their own right in The Wonder Stuff. After Fradgley, Treece and Hunt left, Mansell and Mole brought in Graham Crabb and Richard March as their replacements, and changed their name in 1986, at first to "Wild and Wandering", and then finally setting on "Pop Will Eat Itself", a name they cribbed from an ''NME'' article.
12
13	With Clint Mansell on guitars and vocals, Adam Mole on guitars and keyboards, Richard March on bass and Graham Crabb on drums, PWEI initially recorded a series of short, hooky PopPunk singles (which were later collected on the compilation ''Now for a Feast!''), which saw little success despite "Poppies Say Grrr!" being declared "Single of the Week" by ''NME''. Their debut album ''Box Frenzy'' saw them move away from their purely PopPunk sound (while keeping their humorous lyrics), and begin to incorporate drum machines, {{Sampling}} and influences from genres like NewWaveMusic, HipHop, and {{House\|Music}}. One of the singles from this album, "There's No Love Between Us Anymore", marked their first appearance on the UK singles chart, at #66.
14
15	Three important things happened in the process of PWEI recording their follow-up album: Graham Crabb abandoned the drums in favour of vocals and other instruments, being replaced with a drum machine nicknamed "Dr. Nightmare", the band signed a record contract with Creator/RCARecords, and they hooked up with AlternativeRock RecordProducer Mark "Flood" Ellis. ''This Is The Day... This Is The Hour... This Is This!'', released in 1989, saw the band develop its sound further with increased HipHop influences, kaleidoscopic sampling, metal-flavoured {{Epic Riff}}ing and more electronic elements, all sharpened by Flood's production, over which Mansell and Crabb barked, {{Piss Take Rap}}ped and sang their amusingly silly lyrics like an English Music/BeastieBoys. Being synchronised with a stream of nationally popular bands that either combined rock with dance music (Music/TheStoneRoses and Music/HappyMondays) or bands that had a similar everything-goes, danceable alt-rock sound as the Poppies (Jesus Jones, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, their Stourbridge comrades The Wonder Stuff, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Diamond Head), ''This Is The Day...'' was greeted with great reviews, went to #24 on the British charts and spawned three successful singles: "Def. Con. One" (a hit on the US Modern Rock charts), "Can U Dig It?" and "Wise Up! Sucker..." (which featured backing vocals from their former bandmate Miles Hunt). Next year's follow-up album, ''Cure for Sanity'', largely continued in the same style and with Flood behind the mixing boards again, and was similarly well-received.
16
17	For their next album, PWEI brought in drummer Robert "Fuzz" Townshend to complement their drum machine rhythms and loops, and moved into a slightly more DarkerAndEdgier style with more noticeable {{Grunge}} and IndustrialRock influences. ''The Looks or the Lifestyle?'' saw the band do even better commercially than before, spawning their highest-charting single "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!", but the band ran into trouble with ExecutiveMeddling, as their greatest supporters in RCA had left the company and the remaining executives didn't understand them or their style. As a result, they were dropped from the label before "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!" was released in 1993. They then moved to Infectious Records, a label started by Korda Marshell, their friend who had signed them to RCA but had since left the label. Their next album ''Dos Dedos Mis Amigos'' was even more Industrial than before, with its lead single "Ich Bin Ein Auslander" being a politicised ProtestSong against attitudes towards immigration and the popularity of the far-right in the UK, with a SurrealMusicVideo parodying the industrial scene where March and Mole played comically oversized guitars. ''Amigos'' was the band's best-selling album in the UK at the time (peaking at #11 on the charts), and a joint tour with Music/NineInchNails increased their popularity and led them to sign a contract with Nothing Records for US distribution. Around the time of the remix album ''Two Fingers My Friends!'' was released, Crabb left the band, leaving Mansell as sole vocalist, and was replaced with Kerry "The Buzzard" Hammond. The band began recording a new album with Trent Reznor as the producer and collaborated with Music/TheProdigy for "Their Law", but disbanded before they could finish recording. Crabb then pursued his ambient side project Golden Claw Musics, March and Townshend formed the big beat band Bentley Rhythm Ace, and Mansell moved onto his new career of scoring every single Creator/DarrenAronofsky film ever made.
18
19	PWEI briefly reunited to play live concerts in 2005-2006, though attempts to record new material failed due to Mansell and March's previous commitments. The band was finally revived in 2010 with an entirely new lineup in which Crabb was the only original member, with [[GenderBlenderName Mary Byker]] (formerly of Gaye Bykers on Acid), Tim Muddiman, Davey Bennett and Jason Bowld as the new members. This lineup released a new album, ''New Noise Designed By a Sadist'', in 2011.
20
21	Discography:
22	* ''2000 Light Ales from Home'' (1986) (released under the name "Wild and Wandering")
23	* ''Box Frenzy'' (1987)
24	* ''Now for a Feast!'' (1988) (compilation of early singles)
25	* ''This Is The Day... This Is The Hour... This Is This!'' (1989)
26	* ''Cure for Sanity'' (1990)
27	* ''The Looks or the Lifestyle?'' (1992)
28	* ''Dos Dedos Mis Amigos'' (1994)
29	* ''Two Fingers My Friends!'' (1995) (remix album)
30	* ''New Noise Designed By a Sadist'' (2011)
31
32	!Tropes demonstrated by Pop Will Eat Itself:
33	* AffectionateParody: The video for "Ich Bin Ein Auslander" is a pretty spot-on joke at the expense of the IndustrialRock scene.
34	* TheBandMinusTheFace: Crabb is the only original member left.
35	* BlackComedy: "Def. Con. One" shows the band regarding impending nuclear destruction as an excuse to buy fast food.
36	* BoastfulRap: Parodied in "Hit the Hi-Tech Groove", as Mansell is boasting about their lack of musical skills and reliance on stealing from better musicians.
37	* BreakupBreakout: Mansell, clearly, but arguably also Miles Hunt and Malcolm Treece (as The Wonder Stuff) and Richard March and Robert Townshend (as Bentley Rhythm Ace).
38	* CoverVersion: They covered: "Love Missile F1-11" by Sigue Sigue Sputnik (on ''Box Frenzy''), "Orgone Accumulator" by Music/{{Hawkwind}} (on ''Now for a Feast!''), and "Rock-A-Hula-Baby" by Music/ElvisPresley (on ''The Last Temptation of Elvis'').
39	* DefconFive: Averted. "Def. Con. One" actually gets the numbering system right, for once.
40	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The PopPunk material on ''Now for a Feast!''.
41	* EpicRocking: "Wake Up! Time to Die...".
42	* ForeignLanguageTitle: "Ich Bin Ein Auslander", German for "I am a foreigner" (though it should actually be "ausländer") and ''Dos Dedos Mis Amigos'', Spanish for "Two fingers my friends".
43	* ListSong: The lyrics of "Can U Dig It?" are simply a [[JustForFun/OneOfUs pretty geeky]] list of pop-culture things that the band want to recommend to people.
44	* MinisculeRocking: All the songs on the ''Now for a Feast!'' compilation are about 1-2 minutes long. The longest is only 2:30, and the shortest 0:53.
45	* OdeToIntoxication: "Wake Up! Time to Die...". The chorus makes it obvious it's not a positive depiction:
46	-->''Glass jaw, alcohol whore''
47	-->''Cardboard cutout lying on the floor''
48	-->''Lame brains, drunk again''
49	-->''Stupid dumb dumb cold plumb insane''
50	-->''I've felt worse but I felt better''
51	-->''A human see-saw to the letter''
52	-->''It makes me feel so bad''
53	* PunnyName: The band credited all their songs to "Vestan Pance" as a joke, thinking it would be more interesting than the usual "All songs by Pop Will Eat Itself".
54	* {{Sampling}}: ''Tons'' of it.
55	** "Hit the Hi-Tech Groove" samples "Stand and Deliver" by Adam and the Ants, "(Nothing Serious) Just Buggin'" by Whistle, the chorus of "Respectable" by Mel & Kim, and "The Jack That House Built" by Jack 'N' Chill.
56	** "Intergalactic Love Mission" samples "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" by Wham!.
57	** "Let's Get Ugly" samples "Rock the Bells" by Music/LLCoolJ, the extended version of "Peter Gunn" by The Music/ArtOfNoise, and "Rockman Rock Parts 2 and 3" by [[Music/TheKLF The JAMs]].
58	** "Love Missile F1-11" samples "C'Mon Everybody" and "Something Else" by Eddie Cochran, and Music/TheSexPistols' cover of "Something Else" as well.
59	** "There's No Love Between Us Anymore" samples "When I Fall in Love" by Nat King Cole, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by Music/TheRighteousBrothers and "It's Yours" by T La Rock and Jazzy Jay.
60	** "Like an Angel" samples "When I Dream" by The Teardrop Explodes.
61	** "Can U Dig It?" samples ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'''s theme song, incidental dialogue from ''Film/TheWarriors'', Music/FaithNoMore's "We Care a Lot" (the rapid guitar stabs), and "Black Is Black" by Belle Epoque (the "We like the music, we like the disco sound, hey!" chant).
62	** "Def. Con. One" samples ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'''s theme song, "Dancing in the Street" by Martha and the Vandellas (the snare roll), "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by Music/TheStooges (the main riff is recognisable in the chorus), "Funky Town" by Lipps Inc. (the famous keyboard riff), "Crazy Horses" by The Osmonds (the horse whinny), "Time to Get Ill" by Music/BeastieBoys (MCA yelling "What's the time?"), "Right Now" by The Creatures (Siouxsie singing "right now"), "Raising Hell" by Music/RunDMC (the chants of "to the left, y'all" and "to the right, y'all" in the ending), "Beat Dis" by Bomb the Bass (the main beat), "My Mike Sounds Nice" by Salt-N-Pepa ("Right about now!") and Music/BruceSpringsteen's "Hungry Heart" (the first riff heard in the song).
63	** "Inject Me" samples the beat from "Good Old Music" by [[Music/GeorgeClinton Funkadelic]] and a string part from [[Film/{{Casablanca}} "As Time Goes By"]].
64	** "Poison to the Mind" begins with a sample from a Kellogg's commercial saying "Somewhere in the sprawling metropolis, another job for...".
65	** "Preaching to the Perverted" samples Prince Buster's "Al Capone", Flavor Flav yelling "Yeah, that's right!" from Music/PublicEnemy's "Terminator X Speaks With His Hands", the band's own "Let's Get Ugly", a guitar part from Music/PublicEnemy's "Countdown to Armageddon", the drums from "Shake Your Thang" by Salt-N-Pepa and E.U., and a lyric from Eric B. and Rakim's "Microphone Fiend".
66	** "Radio P.W.E.I." samples "I Can't Live Without My Radio" by Music/LLCoolJ, "I Can't Live Without My Radio" by World Domination Enterprises, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" by Music/JamesBrown, "Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie" by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore and The Fantastic Five, "Two Tribes" by Music/FrankieGoesToHollywood (the main guitar melody), "Shout" by Music/TearsForFears (Roland Orzabal singing "I'm talkin to you!"), "We Get Ill" by Schoolly D, "Bring the Noise" by Music/PublicEnemy, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, "My Philosophy" by Boogie Down Productions (KRS-One yelling "SUCKAS!") and "Get Stupid (Part III)" by Mantronix.
67	** "Shortwave Transmission on 'Up to the Minuteman Nine'" samples the band's "Radio P.W.E.I." and the drum machine from "Mama" by Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}.
68	** "Sixteen Different Flavours of Hell" recycles vocal samples from "Wise Up! Sucker..." and "She's Surreal".
69	** "Not Now James, We're Busy..." samples "I Got You (I Feel Good)", "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine" and "Funky Drummer" by Music/JamesBrown, "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow, "World Famous" by Malcolm [=McLaren=], and Otis Redding's "Good To Me".
70	** "Wake Up! Time to Die..." samples ''Film/BladeRunner'', and the drum machine and vocal melody of Renegade Soundwave's "Kray Twins".
71	** "Touched by the Hand of Cicciolina" samples Music/DavidBowie's "Sound and Vision".
72	** "1000x NO!" samples part of the piano from The Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five".
73	** "92°F (The 3rd Degree)" samples the drums from Music/SimonAndGarfunkel's "Cecilia".
74	** "Axe of Men" samples the guitar riff from Music/MyBloodyValentine's "Soon".
75	** "Another Man's Rhubarb" uses some dialogue from ''Film/Batman1989''.
76	** "Dance of the Mad Bastards" samples Music/JamesBrown's "Funky Drummer", Music/TheWho's "Helpless Dancer", the band's own "Can U Dig It?", and Marina Van-Rooy's "Sly One".
77	** "City Zen Radio 1990/2000 FM" samples Age of Chance's "We Got Trouble".
78	** "Dr. Nightmare's Medication Time" samples "Rock Steady" by Music/ArethaFranklin, "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" by Vaughan Mason and Crew, "Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)" by The Salsoul Orchestra, "Hit It Run" by Music/{{RunDMC}}, "Don't Make Me Wait" by Bomb the Bass and "Shake Your Rump" by Music/BeastieBoys.
79	** "Nightmare at 20,000ft" samples [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E123NightmareAt20000Feet the eponymous episode]] of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' and "Shake Your Rump" by Music/BeastieBoys.
80	** "Lived in Splendour: Died in Chaos" begins with a sample of the ''Film/BladeRunner'' opening theme.
81	** "Psychosexual" samples Erik Satie's "First Gymnopédie" and the beat of Bobby Byrd's "I Know You Got Soul".
82	** "Very Metal Noise Pollution" recycles two vocal samples from "Preaching to the Perverted".
83	** "X Y and Zee" samples "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield, "Slim Jenkins' Place" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, "The Pusher" by Music/{{Steppenwolf}}, "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" by Music/BarryWhite and "Uptown Top Ranking" by Althea & Donna.
84	** The beat in "The Beat That Refused to Die" is sampled from Music/ThisMortalCoil's cover of [[Music/TalkingHeads "Drugs"]].
85	** "Mother" samples "Threatened" by Music/TheStranglers.
86	** "Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me, Kill Me!" samples "Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)" by Adam and the Ants and "Of Course" by Music/JanesAddiction.
87	** "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!" samples Perry Farrell's scream from "Ocean Size" by Music/JanesAddiction.
88	** "Harry Dean Stanton" samples "When Love Rules the World" by Simone Angel. It was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen supposed]] to also feature samples of Harry Dean Stanton, but they were removed for copyright reasons.
89	** "I Was a Teenage Grandad" samples "On the Rocks" by Music/{{INXS}}.
90	** "Token Drug Song", "Karmadrome", "I've Always Been A Coward Baby" and "Everything's Cool" feature samples from the ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' soundtrack.
91	** "Gimme Shelter" samples "I Need a Roof" by The Mighty Diamonds.
92	** "Menofearthereaper" samples "Everybody Wants Some!!" by Music/VanHalen.
93	** "Ich Bin Ein Auslander" samples part of the guitar riff from Music/LedZeppelin's "Kashmir".
94	** "Familus Horribilus" samples the acoustic part of Music/BlackSabbath's "Symptom of the Universe".
95	** "Home" samples "Cargo Culte" and "Melody" from Music/SergeGainsbourg's ''Histoire de Melody Nelson''.
96	** "Everything's Cool", besides its percussion sample from the ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' soundtrack, also uses samples from Music/{{Ministry}}'s "Thieves", a remix of Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees' "Kiss Them for Me" and Annie Lennox's "Little Bird".
97	** So much so that there is a scholarly book on sampling culture [[ShoutOut called '' Will Pop Eat Itself?]]'' which discusses their ouevre at length along with other turn-of-the-90s sampling acts. One of the chapters is also titled "Hitting The Hi-Tech Groove (Not Entirely Legally)".
98	* SelfDeprecation: "Hit the Hi-Tech Groove" sees the band mock their own reliance on sampling, with lyrics like "I don't need to study don't need a degree/I've got advanced criminology!", "We sample, we steal, we beg, we borrow/Here today, and gone tomorrow!" and a chorus of "You don't have to have integrity/You don't have to have ability, yeah/So listen kiddies, it's true what they say/You don't need respectability".
99	* ShoutOut: Frequently present in their lyrics.
100	** "Can U Dig It?" is basically just one entire ShoutOut to things the band likes, from Music/{{ACDC}} to ''ComicBook/{{V For Vendetta}}''.
101	** "Def. Con. One"'s chorus includes the lyric "ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}, we love you all!"
102	** "Touched by the Hand of Cicciolina" combines a reference to Music/NewOrder's "Touched by the Hand of God" (itself a reference to Maradona's "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup) and Ilona "Cicciolina" Staller, an Italian porn actress who had won election to Parliament in 1987, married at the time to American artist Jeff Koons. (She lost her 1991 re-election bid.)
103	** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E123NightmareAt20000Feet Nightmare at 20,000ft]]" is named after an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''.
104	** The "Gonna get the girl, gonna kill the baddies, save the entire planet" chorus of "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!" is taken from ''Film/TotalRecall1990''.
105	** The lyrics of "Pretty Pretty" are taken from Creator/DennisHopper's dialogue in ''Film/BlueVelvet''.
106	* SkewedPriorities: "Def. Con. One"
107	-->''No time to talk, it's DEFCON one!''
108	-->''So gimme Big Mac, fries to go''
109	-->''Gimme Big Mac, fries to go''
110	-->''Gimme Big Mac, fries to go''
111	-->''Gimme Big Mac, gimme fries to go!''
112	* SpecialGuest: "92°F (The 3rd Degree)" is sung by reggae musician Sylvia Tella.
113	* TakeThat:
114	** The lyrics of "Candydiosis" mock Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain's "Some Candy Talking" and Music/HuskerDu's ''Candy Apple Grey'', with a chorus that asks "What's so fucking good, what's so fucking good about candy?".
115	** "Not Now James, We're Busy..." is a joke at the expense of Music/JamesBrown's legal troubles, recorded after he was arrested and imprisoned for a high-speed car chase along the Georgia-South Carolina border in 1988.
116	** "City Zen Radio 1990/2000 FM" attacks the poll tax that helped drive UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher out of office. ("No ID cards, no poll tax!")
117	** "Ich Bin Ein Auslander" is a slam against anti-immigration attitudes and the rise of the far-right in the UK.
118	** "Familus Horribilus" mocks the royal family.

Context Music / PopWillEatItself