Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine

History

Based in Lambeth in South London, Carter and Morrison had previously played together in the indie band Jamie Wednesday, which released two singles: "Vote For Love" and "We Three Kings of Orient Aren't". Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine formed on 6 August 1987 when the two were the only band members to appear for a charity gig at the London Astoria; they performed as a duo with backing tapes. Their debut single, "A Sheltered Life", came out later in 1988 on the Big Cat label, but recognition arrived with the second single, "Sheriff Fatman", in 1989.

That song preceded the album 101 Damnations, a critical account of life south of the River Thames filled with black humour, cynicism, wordplay and puns; it reached number 29 on the UK Albums Chart. The band's gigs became known for a wall of white stage lights that generated enormous heat and contributed to sweaty, stage-diving crowd scenes, as depicted in the video In Bed With Carter filmed at the Brixton Academy. After signing to Rough Trade Records in 1991, Carter USM released the album 30 Something, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number eight thanks to non-stop touring.

The single "Bloodsport for All", an attack on racism and bullying in the army, was released at the start of the Gulf War and was banned by the BBC. Spurred by infamy, Jim Bob and Fruitbat toured Japan, Yugoslavia and the United States (with EMF) and appeared second on the bill at the Reading Festival. The band made its first Top of the Pops appearance with "After the Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way)", a song about child abuse that later became involved in a legal battle with The Rolling Stones' publisher over the use of the lyrics "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday" in the chorus.

Carter USM also hit the headlines when Fruitbat rugby-tackled children's TV presenter Phillip Schofield at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party in 1991.