Posted by old pal Hugh O’Brien over on Facebook – UK industrial pop band Pop Will Eat Itself go mental and trash the gaff on Ireland’s rather sedate Late Late Show, hosted by the incredibly staid Gay Byrne. The footage is from 1995. The “altered mental state” talked about by the band’s press release was apparently brought on by a truckload of LSD. That’s what the rumours at the time said…
As Hugh wrote “worth it alone for the shot of the audience at about 1:25 in”…
“Pop Will Eat Itself have been banned from an Irish TV show after abusing Malcolm McLaren in the hospitality suite and trashing a drum kit live on air. The band were thrown off popular chat show The Late Late Show by security guards after the incident on March 31. Producer John Masterson said: “They were obviously in some sort of altered mental state, and when they finished their performance they smashed up some of the sound gear in the studio. They were escorted from the premises and we had to make sure the security guards were there to assist. I think their chances of appearing on The Late Late Show are very, very slim.” However, the Poppies’ Clint Mansell told NME: “We probably got a little bit over excited but that was it. Maybe we wound Malcolm McLaren up a bit, but when we see a celebrity it’s very amusing to us because these people aren’t real. It’s like when kids see us and say, “You’re in the Poppies you are, you’re crap!” We were just having a laugh with him.” Mansell said the band trashed studio equipment because they were bored at having to mime the track “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” while he said their `altered mental state` was a result of six months’ touring. “We’re a rock ‘n’ roll band,” said Mansell, “and they put out some conservative light entertainment show. Maybe the two didn’t gel.” A spokesperson for Malcolm McLaren said: “He hasn’t mentioned any of this to me. He probably took it with a pinch of salt.” But air hostesses on PWEI’s flight back to England apparently praised the band and told them it had been one of the finest editions of The Late Late Show ever witnessed. The Poppies are off to Australia for a major tour, before returning to Switzerland and then to the UK for possible festival appearances.”
PWEI press release 15.04.1995: Pop Will Disgrace Itself
