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Formed: London, England, UK

Photo swiped from the MF Myspace page

LINEUP:

Nina Spencer - vocals
Nick Medlin - bass
Mark Chapman - rhythm guitar
Bob Moore - lead guitar
Benny Di Massa - drums

Poppy punksters or punky posters? Either way, a great band whose career was allegedly blighted by some right wing nutters and some accusations of being nazis, which have been disputed and do not appear to bear any weight. It was simply probably because when they started they had the daft name Fourth Reich.

Here's a comment from bassist Nick Medlin which appeared on the TalkPunk forum a while back:

I'm sure we didn't even play the greyhound as 4th Reich.. ever. By the time we got to playing at the greyhound we were Manufactured Romance. Our driver / roadie was Cliff (whitton) whos girlfriend Liz was Asian and was always there and just one of the guys. There was sometimes violence at our shows but never, ever directed towards asians guys, black guys or anyone other than skins (if they turned up to start it) and even this was always discouraged by Nina. I would love to talk to the person who contacted you about this bullshit before it goes on line. I can assure you, I was onstage at all the gigs, at all times, every time we played anywhere. Its so frustrating coz when someone makes these accusations it tends to stick in peoples minds. Anyone who knew us knows what a crock of s**t this is. Anyway thanks for the heads up. On a brighter note we are planning to get Nina over for a few shows this summer culminating in the Blackpool fest.

Don't let any if this fool you into suspecting them to be an Oi! band: they were very poppy, certainly closer to Girls At Our Best! than Combat 84.

The band members were all mates in 1977-1978 who hung out in Kings Road. They formed as a four piece in late 1978 and played their first show supporting the UK Subs at the Marquee on January 22nd 1979, following which Canadian born Bob Moore joined on lead guitar. Their tiny singer Nina was compared with Poly Styrene, but she had no vocal similarity whatsoever. "I am a bit short and dumpy but I don't wear braces", she told local fanzine Snot Rag in 1980.

They signed to Fresh in 1980 and released the very excellent Time Of My Life in September, which was a minor indie chart hit despite poor distribution. By the end of the year they had acquired a proper manager, Bruce, who also managed Doll By Doll. (Singer Nina also sang on the final Doll By Doll album.)

They never recorded a second single, nor an album. Maybe that's just as well. As Nina told Zig Zag fanzine in November 1981: "We've got some songs that are similar to ballads, we've got some straight dance numbers, some that are like rock 'n' roll and some that are like soul". Nick: "A lot of 'em are love songs".

They split in 1982.

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DISCOGRAPHY

Singles & Albums

Time Of My Life (7", 1980)

Extraneous Items

Manufactured Romance (CDR)

Various Artists

Back-Stage Pass UK LP 1980 (Supermusic): You / Long Distance Love

A Fresh Selection UK LP 1981 (Fresh): Time Of My Life

Fresh Records - The Punk Singles Collection UK CD 1994 (Anagram): The Time Of My Life