Pulp. Always think of them as starting in about 1992 but nope 1978 wtf.
Simply Red. Thought they started around the time of Fairground. Obviously this is a silly opinion as I know they had hits from the beginning but I only came to know them around the time of fairground.
cabaret voltaire formed in '73. shocked me a bit when I found that out. I’d always presumed they were kids with esoteric interests/tastes that were galvanised by punk. seems it was more BBC radiophonic workshop/Eno they were inspired by.
Similarly, Suicide formed in '70. suppose they have musical commonalities with 50’s rock n roll, Stooges and velvets so it’s not as surprising but still.
same with Devo who also formed in 73. some of the early demo recordings on the Hardcore compilations are like very primitive post-punk before punk has even happened
I just love that Napalm Death were so unstable that the only person who played on both sides of Scum, their debut, was the drummer. So by their first album, they didn’t even have any original members. This is a hell of a timeline.
This is surprising. That Countdown album is generally considered a compilation of their early output and starts from 1983, but I’m not sure I’ve ever made my way all of the way through it. I seem to remember reading an early producer insisted on being unnamed on the album credits for fear of reputational risk!