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XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in a variety of styles that ranged from angular guitar riffs to elaborately arranged pop. Partly because the group did not fit into contemporary trends, they achieved only sporadic commercial success in the UK and US, but attracted a considerable cult following. They have since been recognised for their influence on Britpop and later power pop acts.

Partridge and Moulding first met in the early 1970s and subsequently formed a glam outfit with drummer Terry Chambers. The band's name and line-up changed frequently, and it was not until 1975 that the band was known as XTC. In 1977, the group debuted on Virgin Records and were subsequently noted for their energetic live performances and their refusal to play conventional punk rock, instead synthesizing influences from ska, 1960s pop, dub music and avant-garde. The single "Making Plans for Nigel" (1979) marked their commercial breakthrough and heralded the reverberating drum sound associated with 1980s popular music.

Between 1979 and 1992, XTC had a total of 10 albums and 6 singles that reached the UK top 40, including "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" (1980) and "Senses Working Overtime" (1982). After 1982's English Settlement, the band stopped concert touring and became a studio-based project centred on Partridge, Moulding and guitarist Dave Gregory. A spin-off group, the Dukes of Stratosphear, was invented as a one-off excursion into 1960s-style psychedelia, but as XTC's music evolved, the distinctions between the two bands lessened. XTC continued to produce more progressive records, including the albums Skylarking (1986), Oranges & Lemons (1989) and Nonsuch (1992). In the US, "Mayor of Simpleton" (1989) was their highest-charting single, while "Dear God" (1986) was controversial for its anti-religious message.

Due to poor management, XTC never received a share of profits from record sales (of which there were millions), nor from touring revenue, forcing them into debt throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1993, they went on strike against Virgin, citing an unfair recording contract, and soon extricated themselves from the label. Gregory left the band during the making of Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999), after which the XTC name was used by the duo of Partridge and Moulding. In 2006, Partridge announced that his creative partnership with Moulding had disintegrated, leaving XTC "in the past tense". Moulding and Chambers briefly reunited as the duo TC&I in the late 2010s. Partridge and Gregory remain musically active.

1972–1982: early years and touring

Formation

thumb|upright=1.2|A view of [[Swindon in 2007]]

Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding grew up on Penhill council estate in Swindon. Partridge jokingly characterised the community as being populated almost entirely by people with physical, mental or emotional defects. In the 1960s, he was a fan of contemporary pop groups like the Beatles, but was intimidated by the process of learning guitar. When the Monkees grew popular, he became interested in joining a music group. He recalled watching local guitarist Dave Gregory performing Jimi Hendrix-style songs at churches and youth clubs: "Sort of acid-skiffle. I thought, 'Ah, one day I'll play guitar!' But I didn't think I would be in the same band as this kid on the stage." By the early 1970s, his music tastes had transitioned "from the Monkees to having a big binge on this Euro-avant-garde stuff. I got really in deep." Gregory was playing the Mahavishnu Orchestra's album The Inner Mounting Flame (1971), which he later called "one of the watershed moments in my musical education." Moulding had been playing bass since 1970 "because I liked music [and] I thought that playing a bass, with four strings, would be infinitely easier than playing a guitar, with six strings. That was a horrible misconception!" At the end of 1972, Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers joined Partridge's band, replacing Nervous Steve and Paul Wilson, and the group was renamed "Star Park (Mark II)". Other members would frequently join and leave the group. NME ran a small profile on the "up and coming" band, which consisted of Partridge, Moulding, Chambers and guitarist Dave Cartner: "They aspire to attain the impossible dream of being able to throw a TV or two out of the window of an American hotel and have no one complain." This version of the group lasted until 1975, when the Helium Kidz decided to rebrand themselves and change their music to "three-minute pop songs that were fast and inventive." Meanwhile, owing to creative differences with Partridge, synthesizer player Jonathan Perkins quit the band. In search of his replacement, Partridge found Barry Andrews through a "keyboard player seeks band" advertisement. Instead of a formal audition, the two went out drinking together. The members cut their long hair and, for a time, wore "kung-fu mechanic" outfits on stage. and brokered deals for the group to perform at more popular venues such as the Red Cow in Hammersmith, The Nashville Rooms and Islington's Hope and Anchor. By this time, the punk rock movement had emerged, which opened an avenue for the group in terms of record label appeal, even though the band did not necessarily fit in the punk dogma. After declining CBS, Harvest and Island, they signed with Virgin Records. White Music reached number 38 on the UK Albums Chart. The group also made appearances on the children's television shows Tiswas and Magpie,

thumb|left|XTC performing live (pictured from left: Gregory and Partridge)

Rather than hiring a replacement keyboardist, Dave Gregory of the covers band Dean Gabber and His Gaberdines was invited to join as a second guitarist. Partridge remembered holding a "pretend audition" where Gregory was asked to play "This Is Pop", only for Gregory to inquire whether they wanted the album version or the single version: "We thought, 'Bloody oh, a real musician.' But he was in the band before he even knew." and Siouxsie and the Banshees' The Scream, and he was contacted to produce their third album with a drum sound that would "knock your head off". Coinciding with Gregory's arrival, the band recorded "Life Begins at the Hop" (1979), a Moulding composition. Upon release, it was the first charting single for the band,

Drums and Wires, released in August 1979, was named for its emphasis on guitars and expansive drums. The distinctive drum pattern of its lead single, Moulding's "Making Plans for Nigel", was an attempt to invert drum tones and accents in the style of Devo's cover of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction". The song became a number 17 hit and Moulding and Partridge would look back on this point as the symbolic start of the band's career.

Black Sea, released in September 1980, reunited the group with Lillywhite and Padgham and was well-received critically. Partridge believed Black Sea was the closest the group had come to representing their live sound in the studio. It remains XTC's second-highest charting British album, placing at number 16, was broadcast on BBC2.

English Settlement and Partridge's breakdown

thumb|left|The [[Uffington White Horse served as the inspiration for English Settlements cover artwork. Partridge "wanted to move in a more pastoral, more acoustic direction." Until this point, Partridge had insisted that every part of the band's arrangements on record could be replicated live. He believed that "if I wrote an album with a sound less geared towards touring then maybe there would be less pressure to tour." As such, the new music showcased more complex and intricate arrangements, song lengths were longer, and subject matter covered broader social issues. Much of the new material also featured acoustic instruments. Partridge woke up that morning, he said, and "couldn't get off the bed. My legs wouldn't function. Walked to Ben Frank's coffee shop, where we'd all agreed to meet, in slow motion like I had both legs in plaster, trying not to throw up. I got in there, they knew what I was going to say." He legally retained the title of XTC's manager until near the end of the decade. In April 1984, the group learned that he had incurred them an outstanding value-added taxes [VAT] bill and that he had significantly mishandled their revenue stream. In the interim, Chambers moved to Australia and started a family. Feeling dismayed by Partridge's decision not to tour, he had to be persuaded to return to Swindon for the next album's rehearsals in September. At one rehearsal, Partridge recalled asking Chambers for "tiny, cyclical, nattering clay pots", which he replied sounded "a bit fucking nancified". It was the first of a handful of XTC songs written over the years that reflected their poor financial state. Mojo journalist Chris Ingham summed up the period: "In 18 months, XTC had gone from Top 10 hits and critical superlatives to being ignorable, arcane eccentrics. Partridge later said "Your average English person probably thinks we split up in 1982".]]

XTC released the 1983 holiday single "Thanks for Christmas" under the pseudonym Three Wise Men. It was produced by David Lord, owner of Crescent Studios in Bath, and they subsequently negotiated a deal that allowed them to work as much as they wanted on their next album at his studio. Some of the album was recorded using a Linn LM-1 Drum Computer, and extensive time was spent on its programming. He jokingly referred to some parts of the album as the only time the group were befallen with stereotypical 1980s-style production. It was released in October 1984, reaching a higher chart position than Mummer,

When Gregory joined the band in 1979, Partridge learned that they both shared a longtime enthusiasm for 1960s psychedelic music. An album of songs in that style was immediately put to consideration, but the group could not go through with it due to their commercial obligations to Virgin. In November 1984, one month after The Big Expresss release, Partridge and John Leckie traveled to Monmouth to produce the album Miss America by singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara, who had recently signed with Virgin. Partridge and Leckie were dismissed due to conflicts related to their religious affiliations or lack thereof (O'Hara was a devout Catholic). Partridge was feeling inspired by Nick Nicely's 1982 psychedelic single "Hilly Fields 1892", and devised a recording project to fill the newfound gap in his schedule. When asked about the album in interviews, XTC initially denied having any involvement. In England, the six-track mini-album sold twice as many copies as The Big Express, even before the Dukes' identity was made public. The album also achieved considerable sales in the US.

Skylarking and Psonic Psunspot

thumb|left|upright|[[Skylarking producer Todd Rundgren performing with Utopia in 1978]]

During a routine meeting in early 1986, Virgin executives threatened to drop the band from the label if their next album failed to sell more than 70,000 units. The label forced the group to work with one of their selected American producers. When shown a list of their names, they recognised none except for Todd Rundgren. Gregory was a fan of Rundgren's music, particularly since hearing the 1978 album Hermit of Mink Hollow. His bandmates were not as familiar with Rundgren, but Gregory urged the group to work with him: "I reminded Andy that Todd had produced one of his favourite New York Dolls records [New York Dolls, 1973]. In the absence of any better alternatives, he agreed." Once contacted, Rundgren offered to handle the album's entire recording for a lump sum of $150,000, and the band agreed.

In January 1986, Partridge and Moulding mailed Rundgren a collection of more than 20 demo tapes they had stockpiled in advance. Compared to previous XTC albums, much of the material contrasted significantly with its mellower feel, lush arrangements, and "flowery" aesthetic. Partridge likened the power struggle to "two Hitlers in the same bunker".

Skylarking spent one week on the UK album charts, reaching number 90 in November 1986, two weeks after its release. The music video for "Dear God" received the 1987 Billboard Best Video award and was also nominated for three categories at the MTV Video Music Awards. Skylarking ultimately became XTC's best-known album and is generally regarded as their finest work. It became their highest charting single in the US.

For their next album Oranges & Lemons, XTC traveled to Los Angeles to make use of a cheap studio rate arranged by Paul Fox, who was recruited by the band for his first production gig. Gregory commented that it was an "interesting" style of promotion, but "incredibly hard work", as the band performed at about four radio stations a day for three weeks: "We also did a live acoustic set for MTV in front of an audience which worried Andy a bit but he got through it." A similar acoustic tour was planned for Europe, but cancelled when Partridge discovered that the Paris date would be broadcast from a sold-out 5,000 seater venue.]]

Tarquin Gotch, who served as XTC's manager for a short time, helped the band reach a legal settlement with Ian Reid in 1989.

By late 1997, Partridge and Moulding had amassed a large stockpile of material. Partridge thought the new songs were "some of the best stuff, if not the best stuff, ever. It's even more intensely passionate than before." Gregory denied that his leaving pertained to "musical differences", and that it was moreso "personal problems" related to Partridge.

Released in February 1999, Apple Venus Volume 1 was met with critical acclaim and moderate sales. In contrast, the companion album Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) (2000), consisting of more guitar-based material, was regarded as one of the band's "weakest" albums. Upon release, its British chart peak was higher than Volume 1, at number 40 in the UK,—were reunited for the charity single "Open a Can (of Human Beans)" (2003). Another set, Apple Box (2005), included two new tracks: "Spiral", written by Partridge and "Say It", by Moulding. These songs were available to purchasers of the box set in digital format only, with the use of a special download code. This followed with a digital-exclusive track, Moulding's "Where Did the Ordinary People Go?", released in December 2005.

From 2002 to 2006, Partridge simultaneously released volumes in the multi-album Fuzzy Warbles series, a set dedicated to unreleased solo demos and other material. He felt that such "petty" arguments about XTC's finances precipitated the band's unofficial break-up, as he said in reference to the Fuzzy Warbles collection, "I got the impression he was going for broke ..." Near the end of the year, he told an interviewer that Moulding recently ("a couple of months back") lost interest in writing, performing or even listening to music. He remained hopeful that the situation was temporary and assured that they had "not killed off the XTC head. I mean, we still have the head cryogenically frozen. ... It's no good making a record and calling it XTC, certainly, if Colin isn't involved." In November, he stated that he had been forced to regard the group "in the past tense", with no likelihood of a new project unless Moulding should have a change of heart. Months later, Partridge intimated that Moulding had moved and changed his phone number, effectively ending all contact between the two and reducing their correspondence to emails exchanged via their manager to discuss the division of the band's assets. Partridge also said he and Gregory—their differences now resolved—had considered working together again.

In July 2008, Partridge wrote in the Swindon Advertiser that he believed his "musical partnership with Colin Moulding has come to an end. For reasons too personal and varied to go into here, but we had a good run as they say and produced some real good work. No, I won't be working with him in the future." In December, Moulding resurfaced for a live radio interview where he confirmed his recent disillusionment with music, but revealed that he was thinking of working on solo material. His given reasons for the break-up were financial discord, disagreement over the extent of the Fuzzy Warbles project, and a "change in mindset" between him and Partridge. He also stated that he and Partridge were once again communicating directly by email.

Reissue programme and TC&I

XTC did not technically break up in a legal sense. As of 2014, the group still existed as a trademark controlled by Partridge and Moulding. Throughout the 2010s, selected albums from the band's catalog were reissued as deluxe packages centred on new stereo and surround sound mixes by Steven Wilson. Partridge said that he did not "insist on any mastering or messing with XTC 5.1" and that his involvement with Wilson's mixes goes only as far as authorizing them. The official XTC Twitter account @xtcfans was originally managed by writer Todd Bernhardt. According to Partridge, after some time, "I sort of took it over, because I thought it was weird that there was another person in the way." In 2016, Partridge and Bernhardt released a book, Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC, that contains discussions between the two about 29 XTC songs, one Partridge solo track, and an overview of his approach to songwriting. It was published by Jawbone Press.

Until 2016, Moulding remained largely inactive as a musician. In October 2017, he and Terry Chambers issued a four-song EP, Great Aspirations (credited to "TC&I"). Its release coincided with a televised documentary film of the band's career, XTC: This Is Pop, which premiered on Sky Arts on 7 October. The documentary featured new interviews with Partridge, Gregory, Moulding and Chambers. Moulding praised the film and commented on the possibility of a full-fledged XTC reunion: "They say never say never, don't they? It would seem unlikely, put it that way."

From 29 October to 20 November, TC&I performed six sold-out shows at Swindon's Art's Centre, in Old Town. For the shows, TC&I was augmented by Steve Tilling (from Circu5), Gary Bamford, Susannah Bevington, and Moulding's son, Lee Moulding. It was the first time Moulding and Chambers had played a live gig in decades. TC&I subsequently released a live album of the shows titled Naked Flames.

In 2021, Moulding told Mojo that he and Partridge had recently become on good terms with each other. "[Andy and I] didn't speak for a long time, except about business, and then it was quite terse. But we're quite cordial with each other now, it's probably as good as it's been for quite some time. Would we do XTC again? (laughs) I don't think we would, because I'm not sure whether I could put up with his dictatorial ways any more, or whether he could put up with me."

On 13 April 2024, it was announced that original keyboardist Jon Perkins had died at the age of 66.

Musical style and development

Group dynamic

Partridge and Moulding

XTC's principal songwriters were guitarist Andy Partridge and bassist Colin Moulding. Partridge, who wrote the majority of XTC's songs, was the group's frontman and de facto leader. He drove the band's image, designed many of their record sleeves, and handled most of their interviews. His involvement with XTC's record sleeves stemmed from his disappointment with the sleeve for the "Statue of Liberty" single, which depicted a poorly cropped photo of the statue and the XTC logo in red. He was less successful in his attempts to involve himself in the band's music videos, as he said, the woman in charge of Virgin's video department rebuked all his ideas, some of which other groups later adopted in award-winning videos.

Partridge and Moulding did not write together. Of their partnership, Moulding stated in 1992: "There's a lot of freedom to do what each of us likes with the other's songs, however. ... Each person puts his little prints on them." however, it was out of necessity in those cases due to recording logistics.

Discussing Moulding's songs, Partridge said that few were included on XTC albums because Moulding was not a prolific writer. The band occasionally took to the term "Andy-ness" to describe Partridge's studio indulgences. Since he "couldn't continue grinding out old blues clichés and power chords," he decided to "think more in terms of the songs as the masters and the instruments as the servants." One of his characteristic techniques was the use of hi-hat chokes. Partridge felt that their music was pop from the beginning, not punk or new wave as is often suggested, and that the terms in themselves are redundant of "pop". As they became more of a studio band, their material grew progressively more complex. Later, XTC were sometimes suggested as being a prog band. and expressed hesitancy with the word "progressive", saying that he preferred to call the band "exploratory pop" in the same vein as the Beatles or the Kinks. The New York Dolls' single "Jet Boy" was a particular favorite for XTC. but in 1984 expressed a fondness for "things with pounding piano, everything from Velvet Underground's 'I'm Waiting for My Man', to things that people like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones did at any time I just love banana-fingers piano." Moreso than Partridge, Moulding was fond of heavy metal groups such as Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep,

XTC were not initially public with their influences due to the punk scene's anathema toward stating one's influences. Pitchfork writer Chris Dahlen characterised the band's original sound as punk meets "Buddy Holly-on-amphetamines ... danceable enough for the crowds at the clubs, and suspiciously poppy thanks to the catchy hooks and their trademark verse-chorus-verse-chorus-explode pattern." Partridge said that he adopted a vocal style out of "fear that we weren't going to make another record ... and people weren't going to be left with any impression of the singer". He described it as a "walrus" or "seal bark" that amalgamated Buddy Holly's "hiccup", Elvis Presley's vibrato, and "the howled mannerisms of Steve Harley." In reference to the energy of the band's performances (which drew comparisons with Talking Heads), Partridge remembered how they "used to fucking kill ourselves. I think it was fear. It was fear manifested in ludicrously high energy music. It was like 1000% whaaahh! All of the songs were run together and it was really uptempo stuff." Producer Chris Hughes likened the band's fashion of playing guitar to an automated music sequencer.

Over the next few years, XTC began showcasing their vintage psychedelic influences through the use of Mellotron and backwards tape recordings on the albums Mummer and The Big Express. In 1987, he acknowledged that the group had "really changed personality. We didn't notice it bit by bit but over 10 years, suddenly it seems, wow, we're different."

The Beach Boys' 1968 rendition of "Bluebirds Over the Mountain" was one of the first records Partridge bought with his own money. Partridge stated that he was originally only familiar with singles such as "I Get Around" (1964) and "Good Vibrations" (1967) which were an enormous influence for him.

Discussing the recording of the Mummer track "Ladybird", Partridge recalled that he told producer Steve Nye that he was afraid people would think he was copying the Beatles, to which Nye's response was "Who gives a fuck?" Partridge said that "from that moment onward, I started to recognise that those songwriters—the Ray Davieses, the Lennons and McCartneys, the Brian Wilsons—had gone into my head really deeply. He later considered "Rook" (1992), "Wrapped in Grey" (1992) and "Easter Theatre" (1999) to be the "perfect songs" of his career, feeling that he had "exorcized a lot of those kind of Lennon-and-McCartney, Bacharach-and-David, Brian Wilson type ghosts out of my system by doing all that." Reportedly, when Brian Wilson was played the Dukes' "Pale and Precious", a pastiche of the Beach Boys, he thought it was styled after Paul McCartney.

Lyricism and English culture

XTC are noted for their "Englishness". Partridge denied that this was conscious on his part: "I don't try to be English. I guess because I am English, it comes out English. But I don't sit down and think, "Cor blimey, can I put a union jack and a beefeater's outfit on, Mary?" British music critic John Harris identified Partridge's XTC compositions as within the same "lineage" of small town English songwriting invented by Ray Davies of the Kinks, and followed by the Jam, the Specials, "scores of half-forgotten punk and new wave bands," the Smiths and mid 1990s Britpop.

XTC were one of the progenitors of Britpop, were influential to later power pop acts such as Jellyfish and the Apples in Stereo, They also inspired tribute bands, tribute albums, fan conventions, and fansites. Dave Gregory said that he became aware of XTC's "huge" influence on American acts through his interactions with musicians in the late 1980s. XTC also had a significant influence and cult following in Japan. Between 1979 and 1992, they had a total of 10 albums and 6 singles that reached the UK top 40. According to Chris Ingham, acts such as Kula Shaker, the Shamen and the Stone Roses recruited engineer John Leckie chiefly because of his productions for the retro-psychedelic Dukes of Stratosphear records. Peter Gabriel is quoted: "I've always looked to XTC for inventive songwriting, innovative production, and a sense of humor. It's their strong blend of personalities that make them one of the great British bands." Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said in 1991: "There's a lot of good pop music. I've always liked it…bands like the Beatles, XTC, stuff like that." Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, and Bad Religion veteran Brian Baker has also cited XTC as an influence.

Discussing the band's relative obscurity and lack of financial success, Schabe said that "it's difficult to justify claims of greatness without trying to understand exactly why they never managed to rise above the status of cult band. Respect and recognition are the real validation of such claims, not financial success". In the 1981 edition of Rolling Stone's Book of Rock Lists, XTC were ranked number 15 for its list of the "17 Loudest Bands in the World", ahead of Queen and Kiss. During the decade, there was a reevaluation of post-punk: Shabe wrote that it "led to XTC being revered in association with the groundbreakers of that era." while Eric Klinger of PopMatters posited: "You might not hear of bands talking about XTC as a big influence the way they talk about, say, Gang of Four, but they were certainly in the mix that became the music that was to come."