On This Day 23/10/1990 Pop Will Eat Itself

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On this day, 23 October 1990, alternative rock band Pop Will Eat Itself played Cardiff University. On the same day the band released their third studio album Cure For Sanity.

Upon its release, the album entered the UK Albums Chart and stayed there for two weeks, peaking at number 33, and re-entered the chart when it was re-released in July 1991, staying there for one week at number 58.

Cure for Sanity is less light-hearted than prior albums, "mixing a couple of more serious efforts with a new slew of catchy, immediate singles and not-bad album cuts".The album features a dancier and more electronica based sound, eschewing the guitars of previous and future albums.

Formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorporate sample-driven indie and industrial rock.

Graham Crabb describes their sound as "electronic, punk, alternative hip-hop, hybrid music for fucking, fighting & smoking cigars". Their highest-charting single was the 1993 top-ten hit "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!". After initially disbanding in 1996, and having a brief reformation in 2005, they issued their first release in more than five years in 2010.

On This Day 18/10/1990 The Heart Throbs

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On this day, 18 October 1990, indie rock band The Heart Throbs played Cardiff University.

Formed in 1986, initially by Rose Carlotti and Stephen Ward, both college students, who recruited Rose's sister Rachel DeFreitas and Mark Side.

Rose and Rachel are sisters of the late Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete DeFreitas. The band released their first single in mid-1987 on Marc Riley's In-Tape label. They were then signed by Rough Trade, for whom they released two singles, both hits on the UK Independent Chart.

After two further singles on their own label, Profumo (a reference to John Profumo), the Heart Throbs were signed by the UK label One Little Indian Records. Guitarist Alan Barclay a.k.a. Alan Borgia joined at this time, allowing original guitarist Ward to move to keyboards.

Their first album, Cleopatra Grip, was distributed in the US by Elektra Records, after which they were signed by A&M Records, who released Jubilee Twist in the US. After disappointing sales, however, A&M elected not to distribute their third and final album, Vertical Smile. The first and third albums were named after euphemisms for female genitalia, while the jubilee twist is a martial combat technique for attacking the male genitalia.

The Heart Throbs' single "Dreamtime" reached a peak position of number 2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1990, and their single "She's in a Trance" reached number 21 in the same year.

Following the Cleopatra Grip tour, the rhythm section left the band, and were replaced by Noko (ex-Luxuria) on bass and Steve Monti (ex-Blockheads) on drums. By the third album, the band had switched to a third rhythm section of Colleen Browne on bass (formerly of the Parachute Men, who later joined Pale Saints) and Steve Beswick on drums.

After the Heart Throbs split up in 1993, Rose Carlotti and Steve Beswick formed the group Angora, who then changed their name to Tom Patrol before eventually disbanding.

On This Day 13/10/1998 Bernard Butler

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On this day, 13 October 1998, former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler played Cardiff University on his People Move On tour.

People Move On was Butler’s debut album. Music critics gave People Move On generally favourable reviews, though some of them criticized Butler's ability as a vocalist. The album charted at number 11 in the UK Albums Chart; all three of its singles charted on the UK Singles Chart, where "Stay" – the album's best-selling single – peaked at number 12.

He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation; BBC journalist Mark Savage called him "one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists". He was voted the 24th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a national 2010 BBC poll and is often seen performing with a 1961 cherry red Gibson ES-355 TD SV (Stereo Varitone) with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

He first achieved fame in 1992 as the guitarist with Suede, forging a songwriting partnership with Brett Anderson. He co-wrote and played guitars or piano on every recording until 1994, when he exited Suede.

Immediately after leaving Suede he formed the duo McAlmont & Butler with David McAlmont and they released two singles, "Yes" and "You Do". A compilation album, The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler, was released after the collaboration ended.

On This Day 12/10/1990 The Men They Couldn’t Hang

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On This day, 12 October 1990, Folk/Punk band The Men They Couldn’t Hang played Cardiff University. The band had just released their fifth album The Domino Club.

The Men They Couldn't Hang came together in 1984 to perform at the alternative music festival in Camden Town alongside The Pogues and the Boothill Foot Tappers.

Paul Simmonds, Philip 'Swill' Odgers and his brother Jon, veterans of the Southampton-based pop-punk band Catch 22, met Pogues roadie Stefan Cush whilst busking in Shepherd's Bush in London. Their early line-up was Stefan Cush, Philip Odgers, Paul Simmonds, Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley.

The band's name is inspired by "The Man They Couldn't Hang", and was originally coined by Shane MacGowan - with whom Bradley previously played in The Nipple Erectors - as a potential name for his own band, who eventually became The Pogues.

In August 1990, the band supported David Bowie in his concerts at the Milton Keynes Bowl, as part of his Sound+Vision Tour.

The band split in 1991 after releasing the live album Alive, Alive-O, a performance recorded at London's Town & Country Club that was later released as a DVD, The Shooting, by Cherry Red Records. Paul Simmonds and "Swill" Odgers then formed Liberty Cage who released an album, Sleep of the Just, in 1994 and an EP, I'll Keep It With Mine, in 1995.

On This Day 07/10/1990 Prefab Sprout

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On this day, 7 September 1990, County Durham rock/pop band Prefab Sprout played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on The Comeback Tour in support of their recently released fifth studio album Jordan the Comeback. Support was provided by The Trash Can Sinatras.

A 19-track album encompassing a variety of musical styles and themes, Jordan has been considered by the band and critics alike to be Prefab Sprout's most ambitious project. The album was produced by Thomas Dolby, who had helmed the band's acclaimed 1985 album Steve McQueen but had been unable to commit to the entirety of its 1988 follow-up From Langley Park to Memphis.

Frontman Paddy McAloon divided the album thematically into four segments – straight pop material, a suite about Elvis Presley, love songs and a section on "death and fate". Often touching upon religion and celebrity, the songs allude to figures including Jesse James, Agnetha Fältskog, God and the Devil. Upon release, the album received widespread acclaim with comparisons made to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, the Beatles' White Album, Prince's Sign o' the Times and the work of Phil Spector.

It was also a commercial success, peaking at number 7 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's singles were less successful – "Looking for Atlantis" and "We Let the Stars Go" peaked at number 51 and number 50, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart while Jordan: The EP peaked at number 35. The album was nominated for Brit Award for British Album of the Year at the 1991 Brit Awards.

Stuart Maconie of NME described the album as "riding a thematic railroad from nuggets of pure pop philosophy to weighty matters of the soul". Comparing the album's ambition to "other great pop jamborees from Sign o' the Times to the White Album", Maconie commented "to say it's the pop triumph of the year is to damn it with faint praise". David Wild of Rolling Stone said, "If Brian Wilson at the height of his creative powers had spent a year in the studio working up a concept album about love, God and Elvis, the result might have sounded like Jordan: The Comeback.

On This Day 04/10/1994 Orbital

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On this day, 4 October 1994, electronic music duo Orbital played Cardiff University.

Orbital won an NME award for Vibes Best Dance Act early in 1994, but it was their headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 1994 that brought them most attention. Q magazine classed it as one of the top 50 gigs of all time, and in 2002 included Orbital in their list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

Crucially, the expanded TV coverage of the 1994 Glastonbury Festival by Channel 4 meant that Orbital's set reached a huge audience, in what is regarded as a pivotal moment. Speaking to The Guardian in 2013 about the gig, Paul Hartnoll commented: "I didn't know how much of an impact it would have. Being young myself, I just thought, 'It's about time – of course we should have acid house at Glastonbury'. It used to annoy me. I just used to think it should be happening."

Orbital gave an improvisational element to live electronic music as the brothers mixed and sequenced their tracks on the fly, wearing their trademark head-mounted torches behind banks of equipment. Orbital were one of the few electronic acts invited to play at Woodstock '94.

The third album, Snivilisation, was released in August 1994. Alison Goldfrapp provided vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the single "Are We Here?". This track also included a sample from "Man at C&A" by The Specials. Among the remixes of "Are We Here?" was "Criminal Justice Bill?" – four minutes of silence, a reference to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was in part intended to clamp down on the rave scene which had given birth to Orbital. The other track with Goldfrapp vocals, "Sad But True", was remixed for the Times Fly EP, the band's only release in 1995.

Setlist

Forever

Sad But True

Kein Trink Wasser

Impact (The Earth Is Burning)

Remind

Walk Now/Walk About

Crash and Carry

Are We Here?

Halcyon + On + On (with Belinda Carlisle)

Attached

Belfast

On This Day 04/10/1996 H-Blockx

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On this day, 4 September 1996, German rock band H-Blockx played Cardiff University.

founded in Münster in 1991, the band rose to fame with their successful debut album, Time to Move, released in 1994 on Sing Sing Records, and produced by Ralph Quick and Chris Wagner.

The music videos for "Risin' High" and "Move" received considerable airplay on MTV. The band earned a nomination for "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the following MTV Europe Music Awards, however, the award went to Dog Eat Dog. With the help of the singles "Risin' High", "Move", and "Little Girl", their debut spent 62 weeks in the German album chart, selling over 750,000 copies worldwide, and earning the band their first gold album. Their first major tour followed.

In 1999, World Wrestling Federation contacted the band to record a song, "Oh Hell Yeah", for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. Although it was never used as his theme song, it became synonymous with Austin and was released on WWF The Music, Vol. 4. A reworked version of "Oh Hell Yeah" was featured on the 2002 WWE Anthology album The Attitude Era.

On This Day 30/09/1995 Black Grape

On this day, 30 September 1995, rock band Black Grape played Cardiff University.

The band was formed in 1993 by former Happy Mondays members Shaun Ryder and Bez. It was Ryder's first musical project after the disintegration of Happy Mondays due both to his multiple drug addictions and to disagreements about revenues with other band members.

The formation of the new band was intended to draw a line between his past life and his new one. Ryder and Bez recruited rappers Paul "Kermit" Leveridge and Carl "Psycho" McCarthy, drummer Ged Lynch (like Leveridge, a former member of Ruthless Rap Assassins), and guitarist Wags (formerly of the Manchester-based group the Paris Angels) and Oli "Dirtycash" Dillon on ocarina. Recording of new material started that year, although the group was not under contract.

In 1995, Black Grape was signed by Radioactive Records (an imprint of major label BMG) and released its debut studio album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah. recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, the album debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, and spawned three top 20 singles. The album was certified platinum in the UK in April 1996.

The third single, "Kelly's Heroes" – a song lampooning society's obsession with celebrities and idols that had much to do with Ryder's own previous hero worship of people he now saw as wastrels – had its opening lyric changed before recording from "Don't talk to me about heroes – Most of these guys snort cocaine," to "Don't talk to me about heroes – most of these men sink like subs".

Another song on the album, "Temazi Party", mocked the then-current craze for abusing temazepam sleeping pills (a.k.a. 'jellies'), but was deliberately misspelt on the album sleeve as 'Tramazi' instead of 'Temazi' to forestall any legal injunction against the album's release.