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Altered Images

Altered Images were an early 1980s Scottish new wave/post-punk band. Fronted by singer Clare Grogan, the band branched into mainstream pop music, having six UK top 40 hit singles and three top 30 albums between 1981 and 1983.[

Their hits included "Happy Birthday", "I Could Be Happy", "See Those Eyes", and "Don't Talk to Me About Love".






Former schoolmates with a shared interest in the UK post-punk scene, Clare Grogan (vocals), Gerard "Caesar" McNulty (guitar), Michael "Tich" Anderson (drums), Tony McDaid (guitar), and Johnny McElhone (bass guitar), were all members of the Siouxsie and the Banshees official fan club. 

When they learnt that the Banshees were going to play in Scotland, they sent a demo tape to Billy Chainsaw, who managed the official Siouxsie fan club with a note asking: "can we support them on tour?".

The Banshees gave the band a support slot on their Kaleidoscope British tour of 1980. Altered Images's name referred to a sleeve design on The Buzzcocks' single "Promises", and was inspired by Buzzcocks vocalist Pete Shelley's constant interfering with the initial sleeve designs.

After being championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, for whom they recorded a radio session in October 1980, they garnered enough attention to be offered a recording contract with Epic Records, but mainstream success was not immediate; their debut single, "Dead Pop Stars", reached only number 67 in the UK Singles Chart, while its successor, "A Day's Wait" stalled outside the top 100. 



"Dead Pop Stars" was particularly controversial at the time, sung from the viewpoint of a "has-been" icon with irony, but badly timed in its release the day of John Lennon's death, even though it was recorded earlier. 

A dance remix of it with different lyrics was recorded and released as the 1982 single "Disco Pop Stars". After these singles and their first two sessions for John Peel, Caesar left and formed The Wake.

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