Pop Will Eat Itself – The RCA Years Volume 1: 1989-1990 – Book Review

Pop Will Eat Itself – The RCA Years Volume 1: 1989-1990

Large Format (28cm x 25cm) / Hardback / Full Colour / 416 Pages (TBC)

Written by Paul Snell (PWEINATION / The End Of The Decade Blues) in collaboration with Adam Mole (PWEI)

Edited by Soxan Pance

Forward by Ian Anderson (The Designers Republic™)

Order now from here 

Pop Will Eat Itself’s rise in the middle of the indie wars was heartwarming and unlikely, as you would have wanted. The motley midlands-based band of rocker/goths/punk kids saw them start as an amalgam meltdown of buzzsaw Ramones guitars and perfect melodies that somehow morphed into groundbreaking sampledelic and proto-hip hop after seeing the Beastlie Boys.

It really should not have worked, but somehow it did, and ic the second of his books, band member Adam Mole tells this tale with amusing anecdotes contrasting with beautifully laid out stark graphics that, like the music, proved that beyond their affable modesty, there was a powerhouse art rock band who broke musical boundaries.

The book is a gorgeous-looking document of the times and a snapshot of the pre-internet age band touring and surfing on the hopes and fears of sudden major-label life.

The second instalment of The PWEI Book Project documents the band’s move from Indie label Chapter 22 to major label RCA, and their first two years under the corporate behemoth’s watch – from their first UK Top 40 hit ‘Can U Dig It?’ to the epic ‘The Pop Will Eat Itself Cure For Sanity’ album, all interspersed throughout with Adam Moles brilliantly entertaining ‘Partial Recall’ notes and annotations.

Witness the Poppies tour the globe, meet pornstar-cum MP Cicciolina, and go head-to-head with the NME… and their fans, all the while making some of the most groundbreaking music of the 20^th century!

If you bought the first book then you’ll know these are lavish, high-quality, affairs, and Book 2 is even heftier! It’s stuffed full of behind-the-scenes photos from the personal archives of the PWEI inner circle and die-hard fans, most never-before unleashed on the public!