Editing Half Man Half Biscuit (section)

== History ==
Half Man Half Biscuit were formed by two friends from [[Birkenhead]], guitarist Neil Crossley and singer, guitarist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do".<ref name="brief"/> In 1979, Blackwell was editing a football fanzine (''Left For [[Wakeley Gage]]''); he met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play.<ref name="Kendal">Kendal, Mark (2004) "Britain's Greatest Living Rock And Roll Satirist", ''[[The Word (UK magazine)|The Word]]'', Unknown Issue, p. 42-46</ref> In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to [[bass guitar|bass]] and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright ([[drum kit|drums]]), both previously with a group called Attempted Moustache, presumably named after the [[Attempted Mustache|album]] by [[Loudon Wainwright III]].<ref name="Strong">Strong, Martin C. (1999) ''The Great Alternative & Indie Discography'', Canongate, {{ISBN|0-86241-913-1}}</ref> The quartet started to rehearse in the [[Liverpool]]-based Vulcan Studios, where they soon turned a five-piece, with David Lloyd now on [[keyboard instrument|keyboards]].<ref name="brief">{{cite web
| url        = http://www.hmhb.co.uk/
| title       =  A Brief History of HMHB
| access-date    = 2011-01-01}}</ref>

Their debut album, 1985's ''[[Back in the DHSS]]'', topped the [[UK Independent Singles and Albums Charts|UK Indie Chart]] and reached number 60 in the [[UK Albums Chart]].<ref name="Strong" /><ref name="Lazell">Lazell, Barry (1997) ''Indie Hits 1980–1989'', Cherry Red Books, {{ISBN|0-9517206-9-4}}</ref> Its title was a play on [[The Beatles]]' "[[Back in the U.S.S.R.]]" and also a reference to the [[DHSS]], the government department that dealt with the unemployed, Nigel Blackwell having been on unemployment benefits since 1979.<ref name="McCready">McCready, John (1985) "Tough Cookies", ''[[New Musical Express]]'', 14 December 1985, p. 11</ref> The band's first single, "The [[Trumpton]] Riots", topped the UK Indies Singles Chart in 1986, and they went on to perform at [[Glastonbury Festival]].<ref name="Lazell" /> The second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topped the indie chart.<ref name="Lazell" /> In late 1986, the band split up, giving as a reason "musical similarities".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2014/nov/13/split-decisions |title=Split decisions |website=The Guardian |first=Mark |last=Hooper |date=13 November 2014 |publication-date=13 November 2014 |access-date=24 November 2014}}</ref> The album ''Back Again in the DHSS'', containing previously issued, unreleased and live tracks, followed.

The band reformed in 1990, with a performance at the [[Reading Festival]] following, and a new single, "Let's Not", issued before the year was out, followed in 1991 by a collaboration with [[Margi Clarke]] on a version of [[Edith Piaf]]'s "[[Non, je ne regrette rien|No Regrets]]". Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ [[John Peel]],<ref>{{cite AV media|last=Ellen|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Ellen|title=The Old Grey Whistle Test Vol. 3|type=DVD|publisher=BBC Video|year=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/artists/h/halfmanhalfbiscu/ |website=BBC Radio 1 |title= Keeping It Peel – Half Man Half Biscuit |access-date=14 December 2014 }}</ref><ref name="JPA">{{YouTube |id=dgavqR-OwT8 |title=H is for... Half Man Half Biscuit }} linked from {{cite web |url=http://johnpeelarchive.com/ |website=John Peel Archive |title=John Peel's Record Archive |access-date=14 December 2014 }}</ref> for whom they recorded twelve sessions, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return. The third album was ''McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt'', released in October 1991. By the time ''This Leaden Pall'' was released in 1993, Wright and Lloyd had left the band, with Carl Alty joining on drums. Simon Blackwell left the following year, with Ian S. Jackson joining. Jackson (who later joined [[Rooney (UK band)|Rooney]]) and Alty (who joined [[Joyrider (band)|Joyrider]]) departed in 1996, to be replaced by Ken Hancock (guitar) and Carl Henry (drums).

[[File:HMHBNigel.jpg|thumb|The band performing in 2008]]
In April 2010, the band's song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from their 2005 album ''Achtung Bono'' was the subject of a [[Facebook]] campaign to get it to No.&nbsp;6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of the [[Independent music|indie]]-supporting radio station [[BBC 6 Music]].<ref>{{cite news|first=John |last=Plunkett |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/apr/07/6-music-half-man-biscuit |title=Campaign to save 6 Music takes the Biscuit |newspaper=The Guardian |date= 7 April 2010|access-date=2010-04-23 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spinner.com/2010/03/23/6-music-campaigners-aim-to-get-half-man-half-biscuit-in-the-char/ |title=6 Music Campaigners Aim to Get Half Man Half Biscuit in the Charts |publisher=Spinner |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=2010-04-23 |archive-date=20 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320015736/http://www.spinner.com/2010/03/23/6-music-campaigners-aim-to-get-half-man-half-biscuit-in-the-char/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The song reached No.&nbsp;56<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/singles-chart/ |title=Singles Top 40 from the Official UK Charts Company |publisher=Theofficialcharts.com |access-date=2010-04-23}}</ref> on 11 April 2010: this was their first [[UK Singles Chart]] appearance. It also reached No.&nbsp;3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week, and was No.&nbsp;1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on 16 April, knocking [[Ultravox]]'s song "[[Vienna (Ultravox song)|Vienna]]"  off the top spot – itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.