As is so often the case in British pop music, the career of the “Bristol Boy” Mark Stewart began in his teens. A cover story in the then still extremely influential weekly magazine “New Musical Express” (NME) presented a school band in autumn 1978 that had not yet released a single album at the time. A classic hype. One with far-reaching consequences.
The Pop Group, according to Nick Cave in an interview, “changed EVERYTHING” for him. A groundbreaking listening experience for the Australian prince of darkness, who at the time was still touring with his noise band The Birthday Party: “They were so ultra direct, so musically innovative. So blatantly improvised”.
Their singer Mark Stewart passed away on Friday, April 21, 2023, as his management announced over the weekend. Stewart, for whom pop music always had a certain socio-political role to play, was 62 years old. For the 40th anniversary of the first release of the album “Y”, the Depeche Mode main label Mute brought out a special edition. A rediscovery of a very influential band who have always been “too weird” to be commercially successful.
Hardly out of school in the 1970s, Stewart and his band The Pop Group were already pioneering the discourse on “post-punk,” when actual PUNK was still in full swing. The Pop Group wasn’t really POP in the classic sense, however: harsh rattling guitars and crazy funk rhythms. Wild experiments instead of spiked leather jackets and “Oi! Oi! Oi!” roared. It smelled like experiment. Dub, until then largely a Jamaican studio variety, made its way into white pop music.
UK critic Alex Petridis told the Guardian newspaper: “Despite the obvious pain in Stewart’s vocals, her music seemed driven by a youthful enthusiasm so wild it was almost insane: it sounded like it was they let everything that interested them loose on the phone at once. Some people found THAT too overwhelming. An uncomfortable, chaotic roar. Others, on the other hand, were completely torn!” In the German-language reception, the musical border crossings of The Pop Group were registered primarily by specialist magazines such as “Sounds” and then, from 1980, by the indie publication “SPEX”. In the initial phase, a special topic for specialists.
Stewart formed his band back in the wild punk year of 1977 while still attending Bristol Grammar School, along with guitarist John Waddington and bassist Simon Underwood. The full initial line-up included guitarist and sax player Gareth Sager and drummer Bruce Smith. The said debut “Y” with the legendary “Ethno-Cover” appears in Great Britain on the small label Radar. Influential (reggae) producer Dennis Bovell was at the helm in the studio. In the years and decades that followed, “Y” was often cited as a prime example of genre-busting crossover designs.
In 1980 the second album “How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?” followed, on which there was a collaboration with the spoken word and rap forefathers Last Poets. Already at the turn of the year 1980/81, the “band” broke up, which was more of a shimmering collective. Along with Smith and Waddington, Stewart joins the similarly free-style dub troupe New Age Steppers, who in turn, along with Ari Up and (who later became bestselling author) Viv Albertine of the Slits, are part of a primal formation of so-called “gender bending” that became popular in doesn’t give a damn about traditional gender roles in the music biz in this case
It was only many years later that The Pop Group came together again in 2010 for selected concerts. The compilation “We Are Time” and other late works appear.
On the Mute label website, their boss and industry legend Daniel Miller says goodbye:
“I’ve known Mark as a friend and companion for over 40 years, ever since he was the lead singer of The Pop Group. I have so many wonderful memories of him – some whimsical, some outrageous, but always inspiring and filled with a very specific attitude.”