Our latest reading recommendation has a whale of a title: We Had a…Fuzzbox…And We Used It!!! The Story of the UK’s Most Successful All-Girl Band (Who Play Instruments) by Martin Tracey.
For the uninitiated, Fuzzbox (short for We’ve Got a…Fuzzbox…And We’re Gonna Use It!!) formed in 1985 when three-fourths of their lineup were high schoolers. Over the next four years came two disparate albums– the punkier Bostin’ Steve Austin (1986) and Top 5 in the UK pop entry Big Bang (1989). Though the band made stylistic changes (musically and otherwise) that still draw cries of “sellouts!,” they never lost neither the sense of humor nor the sense of togetherness that make them influential and interesting enough to warrant an authorized biography.
In lieu of a proper book review, let’s focus on a key takeaway from Tracey’s text. The band’s young ages and their cartoonish punk-meets-new wave look made them ideal for one particular medium: children’s television.
Thanks to the magic of YouTube and the loyal Fuzzbox fans that’ve inspired two comebacks (first in 2010 and most recently in 2015), there’s quite a bit of readily available footage of Vix, Tina, Maggie and Jo appearing on kids shows.
One fun example comes via a 1986 episode of ITV’s Saturday morning series No. 73. Out-of-context shenanigans from the show precede a spirited miming of the band’s crowning indie hit “Rules and Regulations.” Much respect from this lover of gaudy fashion and thrift store steals. Also, all four made habits throughout their run of hamming it up for the camera– especially Tina the drummer in this instance.
For charmingly amateur choreography to “Love is The Slug” and an early career interview with Tommy Boyd, stick around in 1986 and revisit the above appearance on another Saturday morning series, Wide Awake Club.
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