Altered Images



"'Hard to imagine a band less fashionable than Altered Images. When they first appeared, people said, 'It's like a Scottish Siouxsie & The Banshees', except they were light where the Banshees were dark, really, and got lighter and eventually got darker.....people did like 'em when they first came along, had a couple of hit records, and suddenly everybody turned on them, as they do, in a strange way. I'll never understand how this process works, but it does go on all the time. They started to dislike them for the very things which they'd previously liked them for, like the fact that they were bright and a bit daft and colourful and leapt about and stuff, and suddenly these things became terribly uncool, whereas a week or so beforehand they'd been cool.'"

Altered Images were a Scottish indie band fronted by Clare Grogan. They were active from 1979-83, during which time the group issued three albums: 'Happy Birthday' (1981), 'Pinky Blue' (1982) and 'Bite' (1983). Their early style was spiky, reminiscent at times of Siouxsie & The Banshees, whom the group had supported on tour in 1980. This was soon smoothed into a more mainstream pop sound that brought them 6 Top 40 hit singles, 3 of which made the top 10.

Peel famously contributed backing vocals and whistling to the group's cover of the Neil Diamond tune 'Song Sung Blue', issued on their second album, 'Pinky Blue' (1982). He would give this an airing every so often. 'Dead Pop Stars' was one of the selections chosen for the Peelenium of 1981. They also featured on the 1981 Christmas edition of Top of the Pops. It has to be said that the majority of his listeners failed to share his adulation of the band, which was almost entirely due to his crush on Grogan, as he admitted.

Sessions
1. Recorded 1980-10-07. First broadcast 16 October 1980. Repeated 10 November 1980, 02 December 1980, 21 January 1982, 31 May 1982, 14 June 1983, 15 July 1986 2. Recorded 1981-03-02. First broadcast 10 March 1981. Repeated 23 March 1981, 30 August 1982. 3. Recorded 1981-09-04. First broadcast 22 September 1981. Repeated 30 December 1981, 30 August 1982, 25 February 1985.
 * Three sessions, none commercially released.
 * Beckoning Strings / Legionnaire (Instrumental) / Insects / Dead Pop Stars
 * A Day's Wait / Idols / Midnight / Jeepster
 * Think That It Might / Pinky Blue / Little Brown Head / Song Sung Blue

Festive 50 Entries

 * 'Happy Birthday' 1981 Festive Fifty #50
 * 'Dead Pop Stars' 1981 Festive Fifty #15
 * 'Dead Pop Stars' 1982 Festive Fifty (AT) #21

Peelenium

 * 'Dead Pop Stars' (Peelenium 1981)

Featured in shows

 * 1981
 * 23 February 1981: Dead Pop Stars (7") Epic EPC A1023
 * 23 February 1981: Sentimental (7" - Dead Pop Stars) Epic EPC A1023
 * 25 February 1981: Sentimental (7" - Dead Pop Stars) Epic EPC A1023
 * 04 March 1981: Sentimental (7" - Dead Pop Stars) Epic EPC A1023
 * 09 March 1981: Dead Pop Stars (7") Epic EPC A1023
 * 16 March 1981: Dead Pop Stars (7") Epic EPC A1023
 * 01 April 1981: Sentimental (7” – Dead Pop Stars) Epic
 * 07 April 1981: Leave Me Alone (b-side 'Dead Pop Stars' cassette single) Epic
 * 14 April 1981: Leave Me Alone (cassette single - Dead Pop Stars) Epic EPC 40-A1023
 * 28 April 1981: A Day's Wait (7 inch) Epic
 * 04 May 1981: A Day's Wait (7") Epic EPC A1167
 * 12 May 1981: A Day's Wait (7 inch) Epic
 * 25 May 1981: A Day's Wait (7") Epic EPC A1167
 * 30 July 1981: Sentimental (7" - Dead Pop Stars) Epic EPC A1023
 * 21 September 1981: Faithless (album - Happy Birthday) Epic EPC 84893
 * 23 September 1981: Leave Me Alone (album - Happy Birthday) Epic EPC 84893
 * 24 September 1981 (BFBS): Beckoning Strings (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 24 September 1981 (BFBS): Real Toys (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 24 September 1981 (BFBS): Faithless (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 20 October 1981: Beckoning Strings (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 30 November 1981: I Could Be Happy (7") EPC A1834
 * 09 December 1981: I Could Be Happy (7”) Epic
 * 14 December 1981: I Could Be Happy (7") Epic


 * 1982
 * 31 January 1982 (BFBS): Who Cares? (7" - A Day's Wait) Epic
 * 08 March 1982: See Those Eyes (single) Epic EPCA 2198
 * Karl's Tape 02 - March 1982: See Those Eyes (long version) (12") Epic EPC A 13- 2198
 * 28 April 1982: Pinky Blue (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 28 April 1982: Forgotten (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 28 April 1982: Little Brown Head (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 28 April 1982: Jump Jump (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 28 April 1982: See You Later (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 28 April 1982: Song Sung Blue (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 03 May 1982: Little Brown Head (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 03 May 1982: Goodnight And I Wish (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 04 May 1982: Song Sung Blue (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 29 July 1982: Idols (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 10 August 1982: Midnight (album - Happy Birthday) Epic EPC 84893
 * 06 December 1982: Happy Birthday (7") Epic
 * 08 December 1982: Sentimental


 * 1983
 * 13 June 1983: Another Lost Look (LP - Bite) Epic
 * 06 March 1983 (BFBS): Last Goodbye (7") Epic EPC A3083
 * 13 June 1983: Now That You're Here (LP - Bite) Epic
 * 13 June 1983: Stand So Quiet (LP - Bite) Epic
 * 22 August 1983: A Days Wait (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 06 September 1983: Another Lost Look (LP - Bite) Epic
 * 15 November 1983: Beckoning Strings (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic


 * 1980s
 * Peel 001 (BFBS): 'Dead Pop Stars (LP-Collected Images)' (Epic)
 * 20 February 1985: Beckoning Strings (album - Happy Birthday) Epic EPC 84893
 * 15 August 1989: Beckoning Strings (LP - Happy Birthday) Epic
 * 02 September 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 114 (BFBS)): 'Idols (LP-Happy Birthday)' (Epic) (JP: 'I'd have done anything for her, you know.')


 * 1990s
 * 06 August 1990: Dead Pop Stars (7 inch) Epic
 * 14 October 1990: Dead Pop Stars (7 inch) Epic
 * 07 July 1991: Song Sung Blue (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 05 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): I Could Be Happy
 * 01 June 1996 (BFBS): 'Beckoning Strings (LP-Happy Birthday)' (Epic)
 * 01 June 1996 (BFBS): 'Song Sung Blue (LP-Pinky Blue)' (Epic)
 * 24 June 1996: Dead Pop Stars (session) (John Peel's Classic Sessions)
 * 20 January 1997: Insects (session) (John Peel's Classic Sessions)
 * 05 June 1997 (BFBS): 'I Could Be Happy (7")' (Epic) played due to apparent similarities with previous record, Midnight Fields by Orphic
 * 01 October 1997: I Could Be Happy
 * 24 June 1999: Happy Birthday
 * 07 December 1999: Dead Pop Stars (7 inch) Epic (Peelenium 1981)


 * 2000s
 * 20 August 2002: Insects (b-side 'I Could Be Happy' 7 inch) Epic
 * 05 November 2003: Song Sung Blue (LP - Pinky Blue) Epic
 * 09 December 2004 (Rob Da Bank): Happy Birthday (LP- Happy Birthday) - (Epic)