ARTICLE. WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE'RE GONNA USE IT

RULES AND REGULATIONS

A TRIBUTE TO WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE'RE GONNA USE IT

One of the best things about doing this zine is the feedback I've had from other people that it's led them to find out about new bands/artists or jogged their memory about some long forgotten treasure.  And in the same way I love reading other zines and discovering new stuff/being reminded about old stuff.  So I felt a definite frisson of nostalgia when I read the article about Fuzzbox in Get Off The Internet zine --- so much so, that it inspired me to get a copy of their Greatest Hits CD/DVD.

We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It (or Fuzzbox for short, they were named after the distortion pedal for guitars) were a quartet of Birmingham teenagers --- Tina O' Neill, Vickie Perks and sisters Jo and Maggie Dunne --- who formed a band in 1986.  They couldn't sing, they couldn't play and they didn't care.  They were quite possibly one of the most outrageous looking female bands with crazy coloured hair (Tina had a Mohican), wild make-up and mismatched charity shop clothes.  Unlike other female punk stars like Siouxsie Sioux or Debbie Harry, they weren't trying to be sexy or cool.  They were weird, wild and wonderful, always ready to take the piss out of something or somebody but never in a mean superior way.  Their songs had a shambolic energy that made up for the lack of technical expertise and their lyrics were feminist/political without ever being po-faced or pretentious.  Above all, they always looked like they were having a damn good time --- they made punk seem colourful and funny, exuberant and effortless instead of dour and depressing and poseurish like too many of the other bands around at that time.  They might have looked like a bunch of freaks to your average trendy but there was still something very down-to-earth and girl-next-door about them.  They had the kind of feral exuberance last seen in The Slits and they quickly started to gain in popularity.

FUZZBOX BEFORE:  L TO R MAGZ, JO, VIX AND TINA.

They released a few singles and an album, Bostin' Steve Austin and gained much press coverage and some TV appearances.  Then there was a lull while they worked on thier second album and toured the USA before they re-emerged in 1989 with International Rescue.  If you ever want to understand why people feel bands "sell out" and why they hate it so much, then look at the now renamed Fuzzbox as an example.  To fully appreciate the impact of their makeover, watch all the videos on the DVD back to back.  Someone at the record label they were signed to obviously thought the time was right to "do a Bananarama" and turn a bunch of scruffy vaguely socially aware punkettes into trendy sex kittens churning out bubblegum pop for cattle market nightclubs everywhere.

FUZZBOX AFTER:  L TO R TINA THEN MAGGIE ON TOP, JO AND VICKIE (GIRLS CHANGED THEIR NAMES SLIGHTLY)

Don't get me wrong, the Fuzzbox girls looked great in their matching uniforms and respectable haircuts.  And International Rescue and Pink Sunshine are undoubtedly pop classics.  But we already had one Bananarama and we certainly didn't need another one.  What Fuzzbox had had was something different to all the other female artists around at that time.  They were one of the very few bands, even on the alternative scene who wouldn't sell themselves on their sex appeal and instead parodied traditional stereotypes of attractiveness and appropiate female behaviour in their songs.  They might not have been that good but they were special.  They were telling girls it was OK to look a mess, you didn't have to look like a Page 3 girl or be nice and quiet and take unlimited crap from your "fella" --- you could go out and create your own riot.  Apparently the band themselves were unhappy over their new direction and tensions were starting to emerge as Vickie was increasingly pushed to the front and given all the attention as the vocalist/main sex symbol of the band.  They released another album and a couple more singles (including a cover version of Yoko Ono's Walking On Thin Ice) and started work on a third album which was never released before finally calling it a day in the early 90s.

Vickie is still pursuing a career in music.  Tina has trained as a teacher and had a brief stint drumming for Babes in Toyland.  Jo has been working as a DJ and also writing/recording songs with her sister, Maggie.  Despite the tacky packaging, it's still worth looking out for their Greatest Hits collection as it includes all their singles plus some B-sides/remixes and a DVD with all 9 of their promo videos on.


EDITED TO ADD: Since this article was written, Jo Dunne sadly died in 2012.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MAY 2008