The Television Personalities are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 by London singer-songwriter Dan Treacy. Their varied, volatile and long career encompasses post punk, neo-psychedelia and indie pop; the only constant being Treacy's songwriting. Present and former members include Chelsea childhood mates 'Slaughter Joe' Joe Foster, one time best friend Ed Ball (early line-up, later briefly) and Jowe Head (ex-Swell Maps), with Jeffrey Bloom from 1983-94. The threesome of Treacy, Head, and Bloom formed the longest unchanged line-up and as a result is considered by many to be the definitive line-up, performing hundreds of gigs around the world and recording many of the band's most popular songs like How I Learned to Love the Bomb, Salvador Dali's Garden Party and Strangely Beautiful. Despite this, the Television Personalities are best known for their early single "Part Time Punks", a favourite of John Peel's. Despite their relatively minor commercial success (their third album was sardonically titled They Could Have Been Bigger than the Beatles), the Television Personalities are highly regarded by critics and have been widely influential, especially on the C86 generation, on many of the bands signed to Creation Records in the 1990s, and on American artists such as Pavement and MGMT. Treacy's unconventional but dryly witty and culture infused lyrics, have led to his reputation as a seminal and iconic figure within the independent music scene. In 2006 music critic Cam Lindsay described Treacy as having "recorded some of the most bizarre, unlistenable and brilliant pop songs in the last three decades". Career Formation Treacy was inspired to form the Television Personalities after hearing the Sex Pistols and Jonathan Richman. Ever unconventional, Treacy said he was not that much interested in music and the band rarely rehearsed. Treacy did not prepare set-lists for live performances, preferring to keep the band on their toes. Head remembers "us rehearsing once in late 1983. We did another one five years later, and that was about it." The band struggled to find a name, and early suggestions included the names of mainstream and often ridiculed television hosts such as Nicholas Parsons, Russell Harty, Bruce Forsyth and Hughie Green, before they decided on the more generic and pointed "Television Personalities". Their first single "14th Floor" was released in January 1978 to critical acclaim. It was followed by the 1978 EP Where's Bill Grundy Now? which brought them to popular attention. The EP features their