Somewhere in the early to mid-1980s (no one knows exactly when), four giddy schoolgirls got together and decided to make something of their lives in Birmingham instead of being destined to grace the tills of their local Tesco. Sisters Jo and Maggie Dunne (four years older) were enthusiastically learning lead guitar and bass respectively, while Vickie Perks had eyes only for a microphone-wielding frontwoman and petite blonde Tina O’Neill, he already had drumsticks in his little grip ready for his first lesson. They didn’t really come up with any great ideas for a band name, one of them came up with the idea to play one of the instruments they were now rehearsing with. A ‘Fuzzbox’, to fully describe it, is a guitar pedal used to create a distorted sound. It was first used by Jimi Hendrix and was an essential element in creating surround sound from fuzzy or ‘fuzzy’ noises predominantly in rock music. It was also, and still is, a certain piece of equipment used by many punk groups of the time to give the very essence of the punk rock sound. Thus was born ‘We have a Fuzzbox and we are going to use it’…
Though with their brightly colored rags and market-cut image that was more Barbie than pure punk, they were attractive, if unfashionable. Gracing the independent charts was the best they could get in their early days. Too clean and well made up for anything alongside The Slits, they took their place alongside fellow extreme makeup applicator Strawberry Switchblade in pursuit of pouts, powders, tapes and vacant expressions. Now well equipped and with all the lessons on their respective instruments, they were ready to release their first single.
Signing up with Vindaloo Records (they were the first and only label willing to take a chance on the color blind quartet) they released the AA record ‘XX Sex/Rules And Regulations’ in April 1986. It was Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’. ‘ all over again. It was racy, very feminine and pumped to the limit with too much bass, and certainly not glamorous enough to tame the record-buying public. Its promo video was an embarrassing arrangement of flirty abandoned street scenes and all the awesome gravitating shots of a little brother in too much Tizer. The single itself, fell at number 41 and failed to climb any higher, but took the number 1 spot on the Indie chart. With their shrill chant ‘There must be more to life…’ it looked like Fuzzbox was going to have to pull something better out of the hat if they really wanted to stay away from food islands. However, it’s one of those tracks that, since easily rising to fame a couple of years later, we now sit down and analyze for deeper hidden meanings. ‘XX Sex,’ will be remembered as a shitty song. Their excessive use of whoops and yells certainly wouldn’t put them firmly in the punk hall of fame, but it seemed like for a brief moment, they managed to achieve something of a retro teddy boy feel with ‘Rockin’. With Rita. Teaming up with lackluster ‘where are they now,’ fellow label nerds, Duane Eddy feels he should definitely appeal to ’70s Teddy Boy ravers, even if they no longer had a job. Once again, the timing was bad and, once again, it’s a track we look back on fondly and remember the days when we imagined the guy who worked at the Dodgems in Blackpool…
‘Love Is The Slug’, was actually their second charting single and brought out all the chic of girls in white stilettos who reluctantly danced around bags at some cheap Saturday night club ( probably in Kidderminster). She was pure Siouxie Sioux with the boredom of her, exhausting voices and no real imagination. However, it was typical of the time. She sounded dreamy and almost to the point that the band was being held hostage while she recorded it. It wasn’t until the ‘What’s The Point’ bubblegum that we felt a definite shift in the way they reflected the music scene around them. Released in February 1987, it was time for the punk image to go and they made sure to start toning down its appearance without it coming as much of a surprise to the last remaining punk buyers. Strangely, but this time, they were creating an alternative to the ever-popular ‘The Bangles’, who were happily having a good time amid the touring charts. Meanwhile, Fuzzbox was rising through the ranks in the Indie scene. Not an achievement of any female configuration so far. Surprisingly, this up-tempo rockabilly track failed to do anything higher than number 51. Although they were Indie Queens, it was actually the commercial charts they were after…
They knew at that moment that it was not only their alternative, the working class, the struggling letters that would have to change. They couldn’t sing about making out at the disco anymore, having a pint with the boys, and doing the dishes. The green net had to go as well as the pink and blue tights and hair.
After falling out with the Vindaloo label, they switched to the UK section of WEA for their next single, and ‘International Rescue’ hit the charts in February 1989 after a rather quiet two-year hiatus.
It was even more apparent on this track that Fuzzbox had a definitely humorous side. We all had to be aware of his antics, as his video performances up until now have always been a bit bawdy and tongue-in-cheek. With this particular clue, we see two of them dressed up as Thunderbirds along with the villain played by Adrian Edmundson. Quite an incredible piss take, but we wonder which is stronger, the Thunderbirds’ piss or themselves. Either way, the trick had worked, they had reached number 11 and were now on their way to creating another angle on eighties pop music. Already regulars on certain shows like The Tube on CH4 and (who could forget?) The Old Gray Whistle Test! They were certainly about to have their most explosive 15 minutes of fame.
Still just as loud, but now all the same color, they seemed a bit tame, only admitting to wriggling on the floor during video shoots and concerts. Now they were even bigger, more glamorous and professional, miles away from their poorly designed but energetic amateur theme. The music now was more rock than indie. He had the upper hand, sex on the legs, and was wonderfully aggressive. The Spice Girls were a group of cabbage patch kids who were still growing up for babies compared to Fuzzbox. These girls were definitely all for girl power. Instead of a cozy night in and perhaps a goodnight kiss; Fuzzbox would have worn you out and then kicked you out after ordering you to serve them breakfast in bed.
‘Pink Sunshine’, followed and charted quite ecstatically at number 14 in May 1989. One thing to be said for this band that they were songwriters, producers and masters at their own mix, they knew exactly how to control their market. Not throwing too many singles at once in a desperate attempt to win over the crowd, instead they would sit and watch carefully, delegating what to throw first. This particular song, ‘Pink Sunshine’, was, by his own personal standards, a song that should be released during the summer. A track full of joy and a true summer theme of bright sun and fun, they felt it would have been a better hit had it been released a month or two later. They were probably right, but we would never know.
Perhaps her biggest song was her last standout single release, though a couple more followed. A fast solo, and also uncredited, by Queen’s legendary Brian May, ‘Self’, was definitely Fuzzboxed off just as the album this song comes from suggests, with a ‘Big Bang’. Furiously cornering number 24 in August 1989, it was the summer all the girls learned how to tease successfully. It was as significant as it was petty. We hate everything that moves while listening to this song. Men cringed at a thousand young teenagers growling with the force of a hundred PMTs. It was an awakening for both listeners and Fuzzbox themselves, but bitter resentments and disagreements between the label and the band members meant that any future work would be limited.
In particular, the most moving title, ‘Walking On Thin Ice’, which was originally by Yoko Ono, was released around 1990 as the band embarked on an epic tour of the Far East. It was a desperate track not only in its theme but it backfired dramatically and the bitterness became too much. The band decided to cut their losses and continue touring, despite knowing that Vickie longed for a break to examine a solo career. Something, even today, she is still trying to find.
They returned home, recharged and rather flat in their sense of the band’s now-dubious direction. Work was supposed to go on a new album, but the reconciliations between the band and the label didn’t pay off. From the unfinished album ‘Out Of This World’, one last single was released just at the moment the band decided to split up. The significant title, ‘Your Loss, My Gain’, heralded the second line of ‘…and you know things will never be the same again…’ seemed to be the band’s swan song. It was time to connect everything and follow more personal plans. The Fuzzbox conundrum had come to a sad end and the four of them literally went their separate ways. Tina is now an art teacher, while sisters Mags and Jo have continued to write for other artists and DJ in the underground scene. (It must be very difficult to maneuver the turntables on those escalators…)
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Looking back on this band, we wonder if it would have been possible for this band to keep going. Leaving the scene on such a creative level, it always seems like a shame for the band to leave when it seems like they could have had so much more to say. We had seen Fuzzbox grow up and grew up with them, from their messy, embarrassing, over-the-top take on punk (almost an insult to true punk rockers) were, just briefly, to punk what the Cheeky Girls were to pop music; It’s a petty insult, but they broke away, quite glamorously, from all of that and became the most feminine group of the late ’80s, if only for a couple of years, hence the idea that they literally had 15 minutes of fame.
Without actual melodic notes in their heads, they had certainly learned to play their instruments well considering that they couldn’t play a note at first. They were so bad, it was great. They looked awful, they couldn’t sing and their arrangements were just as professional as the Mini Pops, but they still stick in our heads and the world of indie pop is a very boring and uninteresting place even today without them. It’s been 16 years since we were made to reach for the remote to turn up the volume or the kettle in the kitchen. An attempt to return once surfaced somewhere in 1998, but quickly failed that same year.
It was time to put down the sequins and hairspray and go back to listening to a terrible ‘Best Of 2006’ album. Somehow it doesn’t have the same feeling…
Fuzzbox were and always will be;
Vickie Perks – vocals
Tina O’Neill – drums
Jo Dunne – lead guitar
Maggie Dunne – bass
Albums to run out and nudge old women;
‘Big Bang’, 1989
‘BBC Sessions’, 2002
“Look at the hits on that!” 2004
[http://www.fuzzbox.tv].
Vindaloo/WEA Record Labels
©Michelle Hatcher (sam1942 on ciao and dooyoo) 2006
