A is for A Certain Ratio

A Certain Ratio are a post-punk band formed in 1977, in Manchester. The band’s name is taken from the lyrics of Brian Eno’s song The True Wheel - from the album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Originally inspired by Eno, Wire, The Velvet Underground and punk, they soon added funk and dance elements to their sound as they developed a parallel enthusiasm for Parliament. The group’s longest serving members have been Martin Moscrop and Jeremy Kerr. Their sound was given propulsive funk form by the arrival of drummer Donald Johnson, who replaced a drum machine. Johnson recalls: “That was the thing that attracted me. The whole point was that they were using the wrong instruments to make the right rhythms. I wanted to free them up, to start doing other things.”

Detail from Fac 22 A Certain Ratio Simon Topping, Donald Johnstone, Jeremy Kerr, Peter Terrell and Martin Moscrop



Fac 5 A Certain Ratio All Night Party

The band began their career on Factory Records and were managed by Tony Wilson. Their first release on Factory was a 7-inch single All Night Party, Fac 5, which featured a sleeve designed by Peter Saville. For the single, A Certain Ratio gave Peter Saville a selection of images to use, including the 1966 photograph of the controversial american comedian and satirist, Lenny Bruce found dead from a drug overdose. The band, who were fans of Bruce, thought that the image was suitable for the sleeve, given Bruce’s lifestyle and the violent subtext of the song. The subject matter led Saville to design a sleeve based on Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series, in which horrific images are used to comment on the de-sensitizing effects of violence in the media. The other side of the sleeve, as well as the record label itself, featured another image chosen by the band: a still of the actor Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho.

A Certain Ratio’s most well-known single is Shack Up, Facbn 1, which was the first release, in 1980, on Factory Benelux, a collaboration between Factory and Les Disques du Crépuscule – an independent label based in Brussels. An underground hit in New York, the success of Shack Up led to A Certain Ratio’s first gigs at legendary New York clubs such as the Danceteria and The Roxy. Shack Up had originally been recorded in the 1970s by the group Banbarra and was a Northern Soul/Funk favourite in the UK. In Shack Up, A Certain Ratio melded the two traditions – Punk and Northern Soul – of their collective Manchester upbringing. One of punk’s more funky products, Shack Up combines a dancefloor groove, sly humour, and Northern post-industrial alienation all in one go.

Continuing the USA connection, A Certain Ratio went on to record their first studio album To Each..., Fact 35, with Martin Hannett at Ears, New Jersey, the album mixed funk, dub, percussion and electronics and was instantly hailed as a classic. Whilst at Factory, the band released five studio albums and twelve singles; their last album, Force Fact 166, was released in November 1986 to positive reviews but soon after, the band left Factory, and eventually signed to the major label A&M.