Pop Will Eat Itself was originally formed in Stourbridge, England in 1986, comprised of vocalist/guitarist Clint Mansell, keyboardist Adam Mole, drummer Graham Crabb, and bassist Richard March; their name was taken from an NME feature on the group Jamie Wednesday, later known as Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine.

PWEI began their existence as a Buzzcocks-influenced indie guitar band, and issued their self-produced debut EP The Poppies Say Grrr in 1986. While recording their follow-up EP Poppiecock, the Poppies became immersed in sampling, drawing material from sources ranging from James Brown to Iggy Pop. Soon, Crabb emerged from behind his drum kit to join Mansell as co-frontman, and a drum machine was installed in his place. Honing a fusion of rock, pop, and hip hop that they dubbed “grebo”, the Poppies kickstarted a small revolution; by the time of the release of their 1987 full-length debut Box Frenzy and the single “There Is No Love Between Us Anymore”, grebo, a name quickly given to the subculture of similarly grimy and raunchy bands, was all the rage in the British music press.

In 1989, the Poppies issued their major-label debut This Is the Day… This Is the Hour… This Is This! on RCA Records, with Flood, who had previously worked with acts such as Ministry, New Order, U2, and Depeche Mode, serving as its producer. The influence of hip hop was even more pronounced on its singles “Def. Con. One” and “Can U Dig It?”, and the album received widespread critical acclaim.

After returning from a tour of Australia in December 1989, the Poppies recorded “Touched by the Hand of Cicciolina”, an ode to the Italian pornstar-turned politician. They later issued Cure for Sanity, their second full-length for RCA, in August 1990, which highlighted an increasing interest in mainstream dance music. After adding live drummer Fuzz to expand their ever-mutating sound, PWEI issued The Looks or the Lifestyle, their third full-length for RCA, in 1992, which saw them dabbling in a dance-infused rock sound. The album spawned the band’s biggest UK hit “Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!”, but they were soon dropped by RCA.

After signing to Infectious in Britain, the Poppies were picked up in the U.S. by Interscope and Nothing Records, a label owned by longtime fan Trent Reznor. Sporting a harder-edged industrial sound, PWEI resurfaced in 1994 with their fifth full-length Dos Dedos Mis Amigos, which spawned the hit “Ich Bin Ein Auslander”. Prior to the release of the 1995 remix album Two Fingers, My Friends, Crabb exited the group to focus on his side project Golden Claw Musics, and March later gained fame within the big beat act Bentley Rhythm Ace.