Top 50 Debut Albums - No.43 "The Eight Legged Groove Machine" The Wonder Stuff (1988)

The Wonder Stuff were my surrogate University band. I didn't make it to Uni after a year of failing A-Levels miserably led to a more practical course at College but had a younger pal who did and introduced me to a host of new bands and genres.

However, the first time The Wonder Stuff really struck a chord with me was at a house party in Hounslow back in the days when going to a house party was the ultimate in fun, would involve a house full of people you hardly knew and usually ended with you asleep on a really hard floor under your coat. Some girls we didn't know had brought their own music including this very album, and realising fairly quickly I wasn't going to get very far with either girl my interest refocused on the music.

Groove Machine is packed full of short spiky shots of spite-fueled pop; Red Berry Joy Town, It's Yer Money I'm After, Baby, Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More, A Wish Away and my absolute favourite Unbearable. All under three minutes long and by and large the best songs The Stuffies ever recorded.