disco, dub reggae, music hall, the Beatles, Free, the Kinks, Captain Beefheart, the Stooges, the New York Dolls, Cockney Rebel, Motown, Can, David Bowie, the Groundhogs, Black Sabbath, and the organ-dominated records of Johnny and the Hurricanes. The New York Dolls' single "Jet Boy" was a particular favorite for XTC. Partridge denied in 2019 that the Velvet Underground were an influence, but in 1984 expressed a fondness for "things with pounding piano, everything from Velvet Underground's 'I'm Waiting for My Man', to things that people like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones did at any time -- I just love banana-fingers piano." Moreso than Partridge, Moulding was fond of heavy metal groups such as Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep, as well as Deep Purple, Cream, and Free. XTC were not initially public with their influences due to the punk scene's anathema toward stating one's influences. Pitchfork writer Chris Dahlen characterised the band's original sound as punk meets "Buddy Holly-on-amphetamines ... danceable enough for the crowds at the clubs, and suspiciously poppy thanks to the catchy hooks and their trademark verse-chorus-verse-chorus-explode pattern." Partridge said that he adopted a vocal style out of "fear that we weren't going to make another record ... and people weren't going to be left with any impression of the singer". He described it as a "walrus" or "seal bark" that amalgamated Buddy Holly's "hiccup", Elvis Presley's vibrato, and "the howled mannerisms of Steve Harley." In reference to the energy of the band's performances (which drew comparisons with Talking Heads), Partridge remembered how they "used to fucking kill ourselves. I think it was fear. It was fear manifested in ludicrously high energy music. It was like 1000% whaaahh! All of the songs were run together and it was really uptempo stuff." According to Moulding, "any kinship [XTC had] with punk" was gone after 1979's Motown-influenced "Life Begins at the Hop". Of his guitar technique, Partridge said that it evolved from his desire to be a drummer, to "chop and slash and try to work between what the drums were doing, a) so I could be heard, and b) because I liked the funk and I liked working the holes that the drums left." He was particularly influenced by John French, the drummer for Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, although he disliked that the drummer's groove would change every few bars. Gregory attributed XTC's unorthodox drum patterns to Partridge's