General Public
General Public was a British musical group. It was founded by Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger who were previously with The English Beat . Other band members at the beginning were keyboardist Mickey Billingham ( Dexys Midnight Runners ), bassist Horace Panter ( The Specials ) and drummer Stoker (Dexys Midnight Runners / The Bureau ).
Career
After signing a record deal with IRS Records , the debut album All the Rage was released in 1984 with the support of Mick Jones , the guitarist of The Clash . The single Tenderness from the album made it into the top 40 of the US charts and thus became a commercial success. Shortly after the recordings, Kevin White took the place of guitarist and sixth member of the band.
Before the recordings for the follow-up album, the band separated from White and Stoker. They were replaced by the brothers Gianni and Mario Minardi . Hand to Mouth , however, was far less successful than the band's debut. Only the singles Too Much or Nothing and Come Again were halfway convincing. A short time later they separated.
In 1994 Roger and Wakeling reunited when they recorded the soundtrack for Einsam Zweisam Dreisam I'll Take You There by The Staple Singers . The song was released under the name General Public. It was decided to release a new album and in 1995 Rub It Better was released . However, the sales figures were disastrous and the project was finally abandoned.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1984 | All the rage | - | - | - | - |
US26 (39 weeks) US |
First published: January 1984
|
| 1986 | Hand to Mouth | - | - | - | - |
US83 (16 weeks) US |
First published: November 1986
|
more publishments
- 1995: Rub It Better
- 2002: Classic Masters
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1984 | General Public All the Rage |
- | - | - |
UK60 (5 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: February 1984
|
| Tenderness All the Rage |
- | - | - |
UK95 (3 weeks) UK |
US27 (18 weeks) US |
First published: September 1984
|
|
| 1994 | I'll Take You There Einsam Zweisam Dreisam (OST) |
DE71 (10 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK73 (2 weeks) UK |
US22 (20 weeks) US |
First published: March 1994
|
| 1995 | Rainy Days Rub It Better |
- | - | - | - |
US93 (3 weeks) US |
First published: April 1995
|
More singles
- 1984: Dishwasher
- 1985: Never You Done That
- 1985: Hot You're Cool
- 1986: Faults and All
- 1986: Too Much or Nothing
- 1986: In Conversation