Half Man Half Biscuit
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Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
,
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Crossley, drummer Carl Henry, and guitarist Karl Benson. The band parodies popular genres, while their lyrics allude to UK popular culture and geography. Within a long career, their best-known songs include "The Trumpton Riots" (1986), "For What Is Chatteris" (2005), "Joy Division Oven Gloves" (2005) and "National Shite Day" (2008).


History

Half Man Half Biscuit were formed by two friends from
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
, guitarist Neil Crossley and singer, guitarist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do". In 1979, Blackwell was editing a football fanzine (''Left For Wakeley Gage''); he met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play.Kendal, Mark (2004) "Britain's Greatest Living Rock And Roll Satirist", '' The Word'', Unknown Issue, p. 42-46 In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to bass and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright (
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
), both previously with a group called Attempted Moustache, presumably named after the
album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by Loudon Wainwright III.Strong, Martin C. (1999) ''The Great Alternative & Indie Discography'', Canongate, The quartet started to rehearse in the
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
-based Vulcan Studios, where they soon turned a five-piece, with David Lloyd now on keyboards. Their debut album, 1985's '' Back in the DHSS'', topped the
UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the ...
and reached number 60 in the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
.Lazell, Barry (1997) ''Indie Hits 1980–1989'', Cherry Red Books, Its title was a play on
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' " Back in the U.S.S.R." and also a reference to the DHSS, the government department that dealt with the unemployed, Nigel Blackwell having been on unemployment benefits since 1979.McCready, John (1985) "Tough Cookies", ''
New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'', 14 December 1985, p. 11
The band's first single, "The Trumpton Riots", topped the UK Indies Singles Chart in 1986, and they went on to perform at
Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
. The second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topped the indie chart. In late 1986, the band split up, giving as a reason "musical similarities". The album ''Back Again in the DHSS'', containing previously issued, unreleased and live tracks, followed. The band reformed in 1990, with a performance at the
Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...
following, and a new single, "Let's Not", issued before the year was out, followed in 1991 by a collaboration with Margi Clarke on a version of
Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...
's " No Regrets". Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ John Peel, linked from for whom they recorded twelve sessions, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return. The third album was ''McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt'', released in October 1991. By the time ''This Leaden Pall'' was released in 1993, Wright and Lloyd had left the band, with Carl Alty joining on drums. Simon Blackwell left the following year, with Ian S. Jackson joining. Jackson (who later joined Rooney) and Alty (who joined Joyrider) departed in 1996, to be replaced by Ken Hancock (guitar) and Carl Henry (drums). In April 2010, the band's song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from their 2005 album ''Achtung Bono'' was the subject of a
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campaign to get it to No. 6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of the indie-supporting radio station BBC 6 Music. The song reached No. 56 on 11 April 2010: this was their first UK Singles Chart appearance. It also reached No. 3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week, and was No. 1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on 16 April, knocking
Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which wa ...
's song "
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
" off the top spot – itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.


Reception

Andy Kershaw described Half Man Half Biscuit as "One of England's most amazing bands" and "the most authentic British folk band since
The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...
". James Dodd on ''Bido Lito!'' praised (as many others did) Blackwell's "uncanny way of chronicling two of his greatest passions in life: television and small-town England".Dodd, James
Half Man Half Biscuit
''Bidi Lito!''. Issue No. 8. February 2011. p. 14.
Eliza Carthy praised the band for their "pathos disguised with wit and sarcasm", describing Blackwell as a "genius". Journalist Ben Myers has described Blackwell's lyrics as "the antithesis of most rock songs, and iconoclastic in their total avoidance of cliche". Geoff Davies of Probe Plus recalled that after hearing a test pressing of ''Back in the D.H.S.S'', John Peel said "Geoff, what's this, I've just played the first side of this, what is it, tell me, it's just fantastic and all". Other famous Peel quotes about the band include "I've said it before, a national treasure, there's no question about it. When I die, I want them to be buried with me." (14 August 1996) and "In a decently ordered society, members of Half Man Half Biscuit would be routinely carried shoulder high through the streets of every city they visited" (10 July 1997). According to music writer
Paul Du Noyer Paul Du Noyer (born Paul Anthony Du Noyer; 21 May 1954) is an English rock journalist and author. He has written and edited for the music magazines ''NME'', '' Q'' and '' Mojo''. Du Noyer is the author of several books on the music industry, ro ...
: "The genius of Half Man Half Biscuit is that they took just enough of Scouse culture to give themselves an edge, but kept their distance too. From their Wirral bastion they issue occasional dispatches of wry hilarity and downbeat, satirical bite. The songs of their leader, Nigel Blackwell, suggest a very real world of people too educated to be on the dole but too luckless or lazy to be anywhere else. They take a witty revenge on the drivel of popular culture, without denying their fascination with it. They seem flintily incorruptible, and scan the London music media with a mocking eye for cant." English writer Julie Burchill praised their "supremely clever and funny lyrics", and described the band as "punk with a sense of humour and a sense of perspective". References to Half Man Half Biscuit can be found on episodes of ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...
'', '' Brookside'', ''
Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...
'', Men Behaving Badly and '' Byker Grove'', as well as an episode of '' Football Focus'' and the BBC serial ''Elidor''. The cricket commentator David 'Bumble' Lloyd often makes reference to songs and lyrics in commentaries, often completely lost on other commentators working with him.


Discography

*'' Back in the DHSS'' (1985) *'' Back Again in the DHSS'' (1987) *'' McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt'' (1991) *'' This Leaden Pall'' (1993) *'' Some Call It Godcore'' (1995) *'' Voyage to the Bottom of the Road'' (1997) *'' Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral'' (1998) *'' Trouble over Bridgwater'' (2000) *'' Cammell Laird Social Club'' (2002) *'' Achtung Bono'' (2005) *'' CSI:Ambleside'' (2008) *'' 90 Bisodol (Crimond)'' (2011) *'' Urge for Offal'' (2014) *'' No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin' Hedge Cut'' (2018) *'' The Voltarol Years'' (2022) *'' All Asimov and No Fresh Air'' (2025)


References


External links


Official websiteThe Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics ProjectHalf Man Half Biscuit at the BBC
*
HMHB Data Retrieval System (in-setlist links to over 1,000 live videos)
{{Authority control English indie rock groups Rock music groups from Merseyside Musical groups established in 1984 British comedy rock musical groups Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Musical groups reestablished in 1990 English post-punk music groups