The Grid
| The Grid | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | House |
| Years active |
1988–1996 2003–present |
| Labels | East West, Virgin, Deconstruction, Some Bizzare |
| Associated acts | Soft Cell |
| Members |
Richard Norris David Ball |
| Past members | Sacha Rebecca Souter (vocals) |
The Grid are an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris,[1] with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Crystal Clear", "Rollercoaster" and "Floatation".
Band members
- Richard Norris (born 23 June 1965, London) – keyboards, drum programming
- David Ball (born 3 May 1959, Blackpool, Lancashire) – keyboards, programming
- Sacha Rebecca Souter (born 26 November 1963, Durham, County Durham) – vocals
History
The Grid formed in 1988, after both Ball and Norris had worked with Psychic TV on the Jack the Tab – Acid Tablets Volume One album. They recorded the track "Meet Every Situation Head On" together as "M.E.S.H.". The Grid had their first success with their debut single, "Floatation", released on East West Records in 1990. They went on to release a string of ten UK hit singles and four albums,[1] and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album Evolver reached No. 14 in the UK Albums Chart.[1] The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", features elaborate banjo lines played by Roger Dinsdale. "Swamp Thing" proved to be a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching No. 3 in the UK[1] and Australia,[2] and selling a total of one million copies.
In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus in order pursue individual music interests. Norris formed The Droyds, who went on to remix tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey, and wrote the official biography of Paul Oakenfold, published in 2007. Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond, and also wrote music scores for films. Norris has since formed the psychedelic duo, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, with DJ Erol Alkan, and has released a number of solo records and remixes under the name The Time and Space Machine.
The duo reunited in 2005, initially playing two gigs under the name GDM with female singer Misty Woods, before writing and recording new material as The Grid. A single, "Put Your Hands Together", was released in 2007 and an album, Doppelgänger, followed in 2008. Both were released on the Some Bizzare label. The album featured vocals by the British musician, Chris Braide.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | UK [3] | AUS [2] | SWE [4] | SWI [5] | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Electric Head | – | – | – | – | East West Records |
| 1992 | 456 | – | – | – | – | Virgin Records |
| 1994 | Evolver | 14 | 51 | 27 | 46 | Deconstruction Records |
| 1995 | Music for Dancing | 67 | – | – | – | Deconstruction Records |
| 2008 | Doppelgänger | – | – | – | – | Some Bizzare Records |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [3] |
AUS [2] |
AUT [6] |
BEL (Fla) [7] |
GER [8] |
IRE [9] |
NED [10] |
NOR [11] |
SWE [4] |
SWI [5] | |||||
| 1989 | "On the Grid" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | ||
| "Intergalactia" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Electric Head | |||
| 1990 | "Floatation" | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "A Beat Called Love" | 64 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Origins of Dance" | 96 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | |||
| 1991 | "Boom!" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 456 | ||
| 1992 | "Figure of 8" | 50 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Heartbeat" | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1993 | "Crystal Clear" | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Texas Cowboys" | 21 | — | — | — | — | 18 | — | — | 36 | — | Evolver | |||
| 1994 | "Swamp Thing" | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||
| "Rollercoaster" | 19 | 59 | — | 45 | — | 11 | — | — | 31 | — | ||||
| "Texas Cowboys" (re-release) | 17 | 74 | — | 40 | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1995 | "Diablo" | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Music for Dancing | ||
| 2007 | "Put Your Hands Together" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Doppelgänger | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
- 1 2 3 4 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 236. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- 1 2 3 Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: "australian-charts.com > The Grid in Australian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- Top 100 peaks to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
- "Rollercoaster": "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 11 Dec 1994". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- 1 2 UK chart peaks:
- All except "Origins of Dance": "Official Charts > Grid". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- "Origins of Dance" "Official Charts > Timothy Leary Meets The Grid". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- 1 2 "swedishcharts.com > The Grid in Swedish Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- 1 2 "hitparade.ch > The Grid in der Schweizer Hitparade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "austriancharts.at > Suche nach: The Grid" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "Ultratop > The Grid in Ultratop Vlaanderen" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts > The Grid – Swamp Thing (single)" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for 'Grid' (from irishcharts.ie)". Imgur.com (original source published by Fireball Media). Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "dutchcharts.nl > The Grid in Dutch Charts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "norwegiancharts.com > The Grid in Norwegian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "BPI > Certified Awards > Search results for 'Grid' (from bpi.co.uk)". Imgur.com (original source published by British Phonographic Industry). Retrieved 2016-09-03.
- ↑ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1994". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 2016-09-03.
