IT remains one of the great Top Of The Pops appearances. On February 25, 1982, The Associates made their first serious assault on the national consciousness, performing the transgressive pop of “Party Fears Two” to a teatime audience. The spectacle of Billy Mackenzie – resplendent in belted raincoat and beret as he negotiates the thrilling peaks and plains of the determinedly Delphic lyric – still excites four decades later.
“We never fitted”: Billy Mackenzie andAlan Rankine, 1983
SHEILA ROCK/SHUTTERSTOCK; DAVIDCORIO/REDFERNS