[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/half_man_half_biscuit.jpg]]

->'''Andy Kershaw''': Can you make a living being Half Man Half Biscuit?\\
'''Nigel Blackwell''': Just about. But then again I'm not that materialistic, I can't drive, so I haven't got a car. I've never been on a plane so I don't go on foreign holidays, so as long as I've got enough money for a season ticket every season [for Tranmere Rovers] that's good enough for me really"

Half Man Half Biscuit are an indie rock/folk band, with a big smattering of parody thrown in, from Birkenhead near UsefulNotes/{{Liverpool}}. Active since 1985, they have released 14 albums, two compilation albums and a number of singles / [=EPs=]. Their sound is a bit hard to describe, but is frequently a mix of PostPunk, folk, and JanglePop; they are cited as being a band in the "[=C86=]" movement, coined after a cassette tape released by [=NME=] which they were featured on.

The band split up in 1986, citing "[[CreativeDifferences musical similarities]]", and reformed in 1990. After some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, since 1996 the members of the band have been Nigel Blackwell, Neil Crossley, Carl Henry and Karl Benson.

They have a pretty large cult following, but saying which of their songs is most famous is difficult, although the only one to chart is "Music/JoyDivision Oven Gloves", which reached #56 after a Facebook campaign. They even managed to get a ShoutOut on ''Series/{{EastEnders}}'', of all shows.

Legendary DJ Creator/JohnPeel was a fan, and they recorded a number of sessions for his radio show. Andy Kershaw once called them "The most authentic English folk group since Music/TheClash".

[[folder:Discography]]
* ''Back in the DHSS'' (1985)
* ''Back Again in the DHSS'' (1987)
* ''ACD'' (1989) (compilation)
* ''[=McIntyre=], Treadmore and Davitt'' (1991)
* ''This Leaden Pall'' (1993)
* ''Some Call It Godcore'' (1995)
* ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Road'' (1997)
* ''Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral'' (1998)
* ''Trouble over Bridgwater'' (2000)
* ''Cammell Laird Social Club'' (2002)
* ''Achtung Bono'' (2005)
* ''CSI:Ambleside'' (2008)
* ''90 Bisodol (Crimond)'' (2011)
* ''Urge for Offal'' (2014)
* ''And Some Fell on Stony Ground'' (2016) (compilation)
* ''No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin' Hedge Cut'' (2018)
[[/folder]]

!!Half Tropes Half Biscuit:

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The line "There's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets!" in "National Shite Day".
* AffectionateParody: Often. One example is "With {{Goth}} On Our Side", a parody of Music/BobDylan's "With God On Our Side".
* AntiChristmasSong: "It's Cliched to Be Cynical at Christmas" is an ''Anti-''Anti-Christmas Song.
* ChristmasSongs: "All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit", "It's Cliched To Be Cynical At Christmas".
* {{Defictionalization}}: Yes, you can buy your very own [[https://www.amazon.com/ChienAndalucia-Division-Oven-Gloves-Mitts/dp/B07SC9DNTG Joy Division oven gloves]].
* FolkMusic: Is not a perfect description, but it will do, and they have covered folk songs in the past.
* FromBadToWorse: "National Shite Day" is an excellent example of all those petty (and not so petty - remember, there's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets!) annoyances slowly weighing you down until you blow your stack.
* GeorgeWashingtonSleptHere: Referenced in "Fix It So She Dreams Of Me":
--> And she lives somewhere you wouldn't wanna get stuck
--> That can't be found in the Domesday Book
--> Cromwell's troops never billeted there
--> Dick Turpin never had Bess shoed where
* IBangedYourMom: A variation in "The Referee's Alphabet":
--> The N is for the numbskull who, during the Boxing Day game, asks me what else I got for Christmas besides my whistle. An afternoon with your wife, mate.
* JoggersFindDeath: The suicide in "Stuck Up A Hornbeam" wonders if he'll be found by a dog-walker.
* ListSong: Quite a few.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The song "Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not" (a reference to ''Literature/TessOfTheDUrbervilles''), among others.
* NonAppearingTitle: A few. "Malayan Jelutong" has the refrain "When my grave's waist-deep in meadow grass" and "The Coroner's Footnote" is a description of the song, it doesn't appear in the lyrics.
* PunBasedTitle: Most of their albums, and a good number of their songs.
* ReferenceOverdosed: Good luck catching everything they mention, and not just lyrics either but sometimes tunes. A lot of them are explained on their website: http://www.hmhb.co.uk/
* RefugeInAudacity: The narrator's flimsy cover story in "Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not" rests on this:
--> I'm going to be apprehended by some mandatory galoot with a handheld camera who will point it in my face and say: "Who are you, and what do you do?" And I'll say: "I'm a counterblast to agnosticism, how do you do?" And he'll go away immediately.
* SelfDeprecation: The lyrics of "Lord Hereford's Knob" assert that all their songs sound the same. As a demonstration, the song immediately and seamlessly segues into "Paradise Lost".
* TakeThat: Just as often as AffectionateParody.
* TeenageDeathSongs: "The Coroner's Footnote", although it's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin not from the perspective of one of the teens]].
* WhamLine: At the end of "Paintball's Coming Home":
--> And if I'd have known they were coming, I'd have slashed my wrists.
----