The Poppies’ early work had been indie racket, Grebo and a bit of a mess. But starting with their final single before breaking into the Top 40. Def Con One 7″ Mix (from Feasting Frenzy)Ī kinda chronological set of hits on this side. They were famously named after a phrase in a David Quantick review in NME of Jamie Wednesday (who would go on to become Carter (The Unstoppable Sex Machine)). PWEI, originally Wild And Wandering, started in the mid-80s and their members included Clint Mansell, Graham Crabb, Adam Mole and Richard Marsh. 16 tracks (14 on the regular LP and an extra two on the remix 12″) in honour of their Sixteen Different Flavours of Hell track, which was also the name of their 1993 compilation album. Fundamentally, they were fun and raucous but capable of striking an unexpectedly political note.

They had 11 Top 40 UK hits in the period 1989-1994. But they were better than many (Hello, The Fall). PWEI seem unfairly airbrushed out of UK pop history. If no-one else it going to do it properly then I’m going to have a half-arsed go at it. This ICA has been two years in the making, hoping that someone else would remember their glittering brilliance. I talk of the mighty Pop Will Eat Itself (hereinafter PWEI). But it’s rankled that the spread of artists has left out one of the most successful acts from that fertile period of the late 80s through to the mid-90s. I was going to do one on Weatherall but Swiss Adam beat me to it (and, frankly, did a better job than I would have done). I’ve admired all the ICAs over the years and read the majority.

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