The Eight Legged Groove Machine by The Wonderstuff

The Eight Legged Groove Machine, the Wonder Stuff's debut, hit British shops on 8 August 1988 on Polydor, and it's a bratty, buzzing blast of guitar pop out of Stourbridge. The band was largely a vehicle for Miles Hunt's songs, and his sharp-tongued lyrics are all over it, backed by Malcolm Treece's guitar, the bass of the splendidly named Bass Thing and Martin Gilks on drums.

"Give Give Give Me More More More" and "It's Yer Money I'm After Baby" say plenty with their titles alone, and "Unbearable" snaps along with the same cheek. Even the sleeve has a sense of humor: a photo of the Keystone Cops, designed by Hazel Pitt, who handled the band's covers through their glory years. The music press adored them, and they ran with a Black Country crowd that took in Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.