Ned's Atomic Dustbin - History

History

Ned's Atomic Dustbin quickly gathered a strong fanbase after being offered a support slot by local heroes The Wonder Stuff on their 1989 and 1990 UK tours. During 1990, Ned's Atomic Dustbin signed with Birmingham based indie label Chapter 22 Records for their debut release, The Ingredients EP followed by a single Kill Your Television: they reached No. 92 and No. 53 in the UK Singles Chart respectively. Significantly, Kill Your Television also topped the UK Independent Singles chart. This, combined with their feted live reputation, drew a huge crowd to Ned's afternoon appearance on the Main Stage of The Reading Festival in August 1990. The buzz created was significant enough to catalyse the interest of major record labels. One final single for Chapter 22 followed, Until You Find Out, but distribution problems meant that many fans were left unable to purchase copies, thus stunting its chart progress. It eventually stalled at No. 51. Frustrated, the band finally decided to sign to Sony Records, on the proviso that they be allowed to release their music through their own Furtive label - thus regaining a higher degree of creative control while still enjoying the benefit of the major label's distribution and advertising clout.

Sure enough, in March 1991 Ned's found themselves in the UK Top 20 with their next single, Happy, their Sony/Furtive debut. It reached No. 16 and earned the band the first of two Top Of The Pops appearances. They released their debut album God Fodder shortly afterwards, in April 1991, which made No. 4 on the UK Top 40 Album chart. In July 1991, the British music magazine, NME, noted that the band were, along with KLF, Seal, The La's and Electronic, making their mark in the United States. The band released a new UK single, Trust towards the end of 1991, while America got the God Fodder versions of Kill Your Television and Grey Cell Green, the video for the latter track proving to be a big hit on MTV's taste-making alternative show 120 Minutes. During 1991, the group toured around the world with, amongst others Mega City Four, Senseless Things and Jesus Jones. They recorded their second album Are You Normal? in 1992, which was promoted by the singles Not Sleeping Around, Intact and, in some European territories, Walking Through Syrup.

Having headlined the NME Stage at The Glastonbury Festival in 1992, the band spent the next couple of years on a worldwide tour, releasing a mop-up compilation of older non-album material and two new tracks called "0.522" in 1994 before decamping to Wales to record their final album, Brainbloodvolume. While still retaining the band's trademark melodic sensibilities, this album boasted a heavier, more diverse sound than their previous releases, moving away from the distinctive twin bass set-up to incorporate samplers and keyboards. Sony released the album in America before the UK, meaning that most die-hard fans bought it on import. This damaged its UK chart position when it was eventually released domestically, increasing tensions between the band and their label.

Ned's had one last UK top 40 single with All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together in 1995, following a final barnstorming appearance on The Word, while the uncharacteristically slow number Stuck became the band's final single, making the BBC Radio One B-list (though allegedly only after the band's radio plugger refused to tell the station's taste-makers who the song was by before they heard it). Following a final US tour, Ned's Atomic Dustbin split in 1995. Singer Penney formed a new band, Groundswell (initially featuring Ned's guitarist, Rat), who recorded one single Corrode and a studio album Plausible/Infeasible for New Jersey based indie label, Gig Records. They disbanded shortly thereafter - in fact, the album was only actually released after their demise.

One reviewer writes, "At the time of their inception, there was no other band like Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. To this very day, there still isn’t. No matter how many up-and-coming acts from England, or even America, have tried to fine-tune their sound to resemble that of Ned’s, it still falls utterly short of perfection."

Ned's Atomic Dustbin reformed with a different line-up in 2000, for a show in Dudley. The show was a success and the band have continued to perform sporadically ever since, including a four-date tour in 2004 where the band performed two new songs, "Hibernation" and "Ambush". In 2005 they again played a few late-December gigs, and on 5 June 2006 their first new single in 11 years, "Hibernation", was released, supported with a weekend concert series called "Ned-Fest". The single was available as both a download and a CD, available to buy online via their website.

The video game NCAA Football 2006 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox features the song "Kill Your Television". Their song "Grey Cell Green" is featured in the video game Saints Row for the Xbox 360 platform, on "The Rock" radio station. The Neds' cover version of the Bay City Rollers song "Saturday Night" features in the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer.

On 7 May 2007, a compilation album was released with the name of Some Furtive Years - A Ned's Anthology: "Furtive" is a reference to their earlier record label. Unlike the others, this compilation features liner notes by Penney and Cheslin, offering insight into the background of songs featured on the album.