Recorded The Looks or the Lifestyle?

For the recording of the band’s 1992 album The Looks or the Lifestyle? , Pop Will Eat Itself recruited John “Fuzz” Townshend as their drummer to complement their preprogrammed drums. The band had discussed adding a live drummer in 1990, but touring commitments made it impractical to do so until the band were able to break touring activity in late 1991 to commence recording. The album peaked at UK No. 15 and featured the Top 30 hit singles “Karmadrome” and “Bulletproof!” Despite healthy sales and widescale touring, the band’s most ardent supporters at RCA had left the company by January 1993, and the remaining executives struggled to understand the band and their music, once suggesting that EMF write a hit for them. The band was dropped from the label before the “Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!” single was released, but the song peaked at #9 in the UK Singles Chart , becoming the band’s greatest hit and earning them the distinction as the highest-charting act to appear on Top of the Pops without a record deal. In an attempt to recoup their investment, the label released the live album Live at Weird’s Bar and Grill , recorded in London in October 1992.