Pop Will Eat Itself – Cure For Sanity

Pop Will Eat Itself – Cure For Sanity

Pop Will Eat Itself – Cure For Sanity is the ambitious 1990 album from the influential British alternative band, capturing the group at the point where indie rock, industrial noise, hip-hop sampling and electronic dance music were colliding. Packed with samples, heavy beats, distorted guitars and the band's trademark irreverent humour, the album is one of the key releases from PWEI's late-1980s/early-1990s period.

The record opens with "The Incredible P.W.E.I. Vs. The Moral Majority", before launching into the manic "Dance Of The Mad Bastards" and the driving "88 Seconds... & Still Counting". "X Y & Zee" is another standout, combining pounding rhythms, abrasive guitars and electronic textures in a way that perfectly captures the band's genre-blurring approach.

The bizarrely titled "Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina (Extra Time Mix)" stretches out to over seven minutes, while "1000x No!" brings the first side to a suitably chaotic conclusion.

Side two continues the assault with "Psychosexual", "Axe Of Men" and "Another Man's Rhubarb", followed by the brief "Medicine Man Speak With Forked Tongue". "Nightmare At 20,000 FT" and "Very Metal Noise Pollution" showcase the heavier side of the band's sound, before "92°F (The 3rd Degree)" delivers another extended blast of industrial dance-rock.

The album closes with "Lived In Splendour: Died In Chaos" and "The Beat That Refused To Die", an appropriate finale for a record built around relentless rhythms, sampling and sonic experimentation.

Pop Will Eat Itself emerged from the Stourbridge alternative scene and became closely associated with the sample-heavy, genre-colliding sound that would influence the industrial and alternative dance scenes of the early 1990s. Their willingness to combine punk attitude, hip-hop production techniques, electronic beats and rock guitars made them particularly distinctive within British alternative music.

For collectors of Pop Will Eat Itself, industrial rock, alternative dance, electronic rock, sample-heavy indie and early-1990s alternative music, Cure For Sanity is an essential example of the band's inventive and deliberately chaotic approach.

Tracklist

Side A

1. The Incredible P.W.E.I. Vs. The Moral Majority – 1:33
2. Dance Of The Mad Bastards – 5:30
3. 88 Seconds... & Still Counting – 3:53
4. X Y & Zee – 4:35
5. City Zen Radio 1990/2000 FM – 0:49
6. Dr. Nightmare's Medication Time – 3:10
7. Touched By The Hand Of Cicciolina (Extra Time Mix) – 7:40
8. 1000x No! – 3:27

Side B

1. Psychosexual – 2:10
2. Axe Of Men – 4:20
3. Another Man's Rhubarb – 4:11
4. Medicine Man Speak With Forked Tongue – 0:31
5. Nightmare At 20,000 FT – 4:12
6. Very Metal Noise Pollution – 1:26
7. 92°F (The 3rd Degree) – 5:37
8. Lived In Splendour: Died In Chaos – 5:05
9. The Beat That Refused To Die – 1:39