After witnessing a show by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and The Heartbreakers in 1976, Green Gartside felt as if he had been âgiven permissionâ to form a band. Scritti Politti was the result, a Camden-based, squat-dwelling collective who produced what he describes as âscratchy-collapsyâ music, all tumbling drums, stumbling reggae basslines and tinny guitars.
After releasing a clutch of singles and the debut album 'Songs to Remember', the band underwent a tectonic shift, inspired by black American R&B pop of the early 1980s. âJust fantastic, liberating music⌠A sort of epiphany,â Green remembers. Geoff Travis at Rough Trade introduced him to keyboard wizard David Gamson and drummer Fred Maher, and this new configuration of Scritti began work on what would become Cupid & Psyche 85. It would be followed by Provision (1987), Anomie & Bonhomie (1999) and the Mercury Prize-nominated White Bread Black Beer (2006). Itâs a catalogue of extraordinary variety, vitality and beauty.