The jazz-blues influenced third album, Prehistoric Sounds , followed in October 1978 (January 1979 in Australia). Its commercial failure led EMI to drop the band. During 1978, relations between Kuepper and Bailey had deteriorated, with Bailey preferring rock and pop songs and Kuepper pursuing less commercial and more intellectual material.…
Read More
The band’s second album, Separates , was produced by Martin Rushent . One reviewer lists it as one of the best punk albums of all time. In the United States, a slightly altered version of Separates , re-titled High Energy Plan , became the band’s first American release. In October…
Read More
The band broke up after a last gig at Eric’s on 26 August 1978. During their time, Big in Japan recorded four songs which were included on the From Y to Z and Never Again EP, released after their split to pay off their debts. The unintentional consequence of the…
Read More
On 25 August 1978 the band released another single, “Urban Kids”, which was co-written by October and Alternative TV and produced by ex- Who manager Kit Lambert .
In 1977 the Victims recorded their debut single, ” Television Addict ” (Faulkner/Baker) / “I’m Flipped Out Over You” (Baker/Buncle), of which only 1,000 copies were pressed. In August 1978 they released a five-track extended play, The Victims (also known as No Thanks to the Human Turd ), with: “I…
Read More
They recorded four sessions for BBC Radio One ‘s John Peel between July 1978 and January 1980.
In June 1978, they gave a landmark free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa, recorded on a Sony Portapak video camera by the San Francisco collective Target Video and later released as Live at Napa State Mental Hospital . Once back to the east coast,…
Read More
Without a label, with no tour support or distribution for Radios Appear , the relationships between the band’s members grew strained. They split up after playing one last show at Oxford University in June 1978.
In June, the band released ” (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais ” as a single, which peaked at number 32 in the UK Singles chart; it quickly became a favourite with Clash fans and was voted single of the year in the 1978 NME Readers’ Poll.
Their follow-up album, V2 , narrowly missed the UK top 30. The only single to be taken from that album, “Automatic Lover”, was the only Vibrators’ single to reach the UK top 40 where it reached No. 35. It earned the band a TV appearance on the prime-time TV show…
Read More