Whither Colourbox?

[reddragdiva]

Just been playing "The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme" on repeat. They submitted it as the 1986 England World Cup theme, it was rejected, they released it anyway. Weirdly plastic, but reeking of ambition. And you can tell Gillian Gilbert was familiar with it hearing her work for sport show soundtracks, which, of course, culminated in "World In Motion".

Colourbox were a primitive dance band in the '80s, trying to make music somewhat beyond the technology they had to hand. They dithered along on 4AD from 1982 until 1987. They finally had a big hit with "Pump Up The Volume", a collaboration with A.R. Kane under the name M|A|R|R|S. This tore the band apart; they said "we'll never record for 4AD again", 4AD said "you can't say that, you have a contract!" and they said "if you like." And they never released another note.

(A.R. Kane were similarly pissed off, but successfully decamped to Rough Trade.)

So. What the hell ever happened to them all?

• 4AD discography.
• Full discography including compilations and some promos.
• Discography with sleeve images.
• The Colourbox samples list.
• The M|A|R|R|S FAQ.

Comments

[reddragdiva]

I think they had a sound. But the Throwing Muses came in for the second 4AD sound - when they transmuted into a guitar pop label in the late '80s. (Belly! Ultra Vivid Scene! P*x**s!)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I saw Belly play at WPI (the college I now work at) a year or so before they got big. They played a halloween show in masks, and it was a decent show, but they were assholes afterwards.

[reddragdiva]

I heard their first 12" knowing nothing at all about them, and was blown away by what a damn fine guitar pop record it was. Keep in mind that I was in Perth in the late '80s, which indie scene was the GODDAMN KING of guitar pop wonderment. So yeah, that was a really good rekerd.

[trayce.livejournal.com]

Yeah the first Belly album was nifty. They were shite live though. They had some metal band bass player chick barging around onstage like she was in L7 (and in fact I think she indeed went to L7 after belly, heh). Compared to the Muses, it was really dull. They played with Juliana Hatfield and she blew em off the stage.