The Pop Group was formed in 1977 in Bristol when teenager Mark Stewart set out to start a funk group with schoolmates John Waddington and Simon Underwood.[5][6] Inspired by the energy of punk rock but feeling the style to be too conservative, the group drew influence from the avant-garde, black music styles such as free jazz and dub, and radical political traditions.[2][6] Guitarist Gareth Sager and drummer Bruce Smith were eventually added to the group.[6] Soon after forming, they began to gain notoriety for their live performances and were signed to Radar Records.[6] They appeared on the cover of the NME.[7] The band donated the proceeds from their first high-profile tour to Amnesty International.[8] They issued their debut single "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" in March 1979 and their debut album Y in April of that year, both to acclaim.[9] Regardless, their moderate success was sufficient to convince Rough Trade to sign the band. During this period, Dan Catsis replaced Underwood on bass.[9]
In 2010, The Pop Group reunited for a special edition of ATP festival curated by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, with members Mark Stewart, Gareth Sager, Bruce Smith and Dan Catsis. [10] Over the next few years the band engaged in a prolific series of releases on the label Freaks R Us. The 1980 LP We Are Time was reissued worldwide on 20 October 2014, and the band released a compilation of rarities titled Cabinet of Curiosities. In support of the reissues, the band undertook a seven-day tour of the UK, and in February 2015, released Citizen Zombie, their first studio album in 35 years.[11] They then went on a worldwide tour with dates in the U.S., Japan, and Australia, followed by an extensive European tour culminating in festival appearances, including two live sets at Glastonbury.[12]
In February 2016 For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? was rereleased on CD and released digitally for the first time. This was accompanied by the release of a colour vinyl edition of "We Are All Prostitutes," referred to by The Vinyl Factory.[13] A previously unseen video for "We Are All Prostitutes", shot at the Electric Ballroom in November 1979 but thought to be lost, was recovered from the attic of video artist Chris Reynolds and unveiled.[citation needed] In May, the band released a collection of live recordings titled The Boys Whose Head Exploded. Throughout 2016, the band worked on new material with producer Dennis Bovell,[14] and in October Honeymoon on Mars was released.[15] In 2019, the band's debut album Y, produced by Dennis Bovell, was reissued by Mute Records with unreleased live and studio recordings. This was followed by Y in Dub in 2021, a new dub-focused interpretation of the album, once again produced by Dennis Bovell.
On 21 April 2023, Mark Stewart died at the age of 62.[16][17]
John Waddington's death was announced on 21 June 2023. He was 63.[18]
Style and influences
The Pop Group have been called pioneers of the late-1970s post-punk movement.[1]The Guardian wrote that the Pop Group "almost singlehandedly effected the transition from punk to post-punk," noting that they "– ahead of Gang of Four, PiL, A Certain Ratio and the rest – steered punk towards a radical, politicised mash-up of dub, funk, free jazz and the avant-garde."[2]Louder Than War called them "one of the most wildly innovative and barrier-shattering bands to emerge from the late ’70s post-punk era."[19]Rolling Stone described the group as "an explosive mutant gene," asserting that "among their rabble-rousing post-punk contemporaries, none boasted as much sheer musical inventiveness and audacity."[5] Theorist Mark Fisher described their sound as "both cavernous and propulsive, ultra-abstract yet driven by dance music’s physical imperatives."[20][21]
The Pop Group's music inspired and influenced many bands and artists that followed them. Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt has stated that
Pop Group had an incredible influence on the Minutemen — incredible. Here's some guys that took Captain Beefheart and mixed it with Parliament-Funkadelic. For us (...) that was a mindblow, because we're comin' from arena rock. We thought there were these strict rules about music and stuff. Pop Group? They blew that all the way for us. You had permission to let the freak flag fuckin' fly. That's what they said to us. It was a really important band.[31]
The Australian artist Nick Cave attended a gig of the Pop Group and was so inspired by their performance, he stated that: "...It was one of those moments we just feel the cogs of your mind shift and your life is going to be irreversibly changed forever."[38]David J of Bauhaus named the group as one of the "few bands on the [post-punk] scene at the time to whom we related".[39] American artist St. Vincent performed a cover of "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The song also was a regular on her Strange Mercy Tour.
↑Terich, Jeff (5 November 2019). "How The Pop Group's 'Y' captured a joyful chaos". Treble Zine. Archived from the original on 23 July 2025. Retrieved 27 January 2026. We were really young and we just had ideas and sort of amazing different music that we loved, everything from James Brown to Funkadelic to Nico, John Cage, Stockhausen and Ornette Coleman," says [Gareth] Sager. "And you know we just because we were young and naive we just thought you could mix all that stuff together. You know, even if you were 25 you wouldn't think of mixing all those things together."
↑"Mark Stewart (The Pop Group) Talks". Ransom Note. The Culture Space Ltd. Retrieved 10 October 2020. Growing up in Bristol, from a kid onwards I was just going out dancing to really heavy funk and going to reggae dances and we just thought we'd bring in some of the stuff we were really into like Sun Ra and whatever.
↑Leland, John (August 1986). "SPIN - August 1986". SPIN Media LLC. p.12. Retrieved 13 January 2021. "What I think of as a sort of an analog to what we're doing," says Albini, "is something like the Pop Group, where there was an obvious political or social undertone, but they put so much effort into the music that it was obvious that was what was inspiring them, and they were not just creating a backdrop of their images. I just like playing guitar."
↑Sparkham, Maddy (23 April 2010). ""You Should Get Out More!" A Certain Ratio Interviewed". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 22 January 2025. Retrieved 31 March 2025. We get a lot of credit but we're not due it – we were influenced by the Pop Group, who were fantastic – John Waddington's guitar. They were doing the same thing as us, they were listening to American imports and stuff like that and doing their version of it.
↑Koukos, Panagiotis (29 April 2010). "A Certain Ratio Return - interview". DJ Mag. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2025. We were one of the first urban outfits fusing dub, reggae, jazz, funk, punk and Latin. The Pop Group were one of the only other bands doing this at the time and we were really influenced by them.
↑David J. Haskins (2014). Who Killed Mister Moonlight?: Bauhaus, Black Magick, and Benediction. Jawbone Press. ISBN9781908279675. There were only a few bands on the scene at the time to whom we related. Joy Division, Pere Ubu, Devo, Gang Of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, and The Pop Group come to mind.
