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Again mixing Punk with dance and a large dose of Marxist philosophy, The Gang of Four were initially released on the Edinburgh based independent label, Fast (as were The Human League). When the Pop Group split up, two groups were formed ­ Mark Stewart and The Mafia, and Rip,Rig and Panic which also featured a young Neneh Cherry. The group was produced by Denis Bovell, founding member of Matumbi, and one of punks favourite producers- He would also produce The Slits as well as continuing to work with people such as Linton Kwesi Johnson. The Pop Group mixed Punk, Funk, Disco and Reggae influences into a sound that many future bands would emulate. Other groups that have come out of this chain include Rip, Rig and Panic, Maximum Joy, Massive Attack and Portishead. Consequently, the all-electronic "Being Boiled" was created on a two-track tape recorder in mono! The Pop Group were the forerunners of what came to be known as The Bristol Sound. At the beginning, both these groups were interested in electronic music and how this music could be created within a punk ethos. Whilst Cabaret Voltaire stuck to their roots, signing to, and staying on, a fledgling new label, Rough Trade Records, The Human League would go on to international stardom as their experimental late-70s electronic music turned into 80s synth-pop.

The two most successful were Cabaret Voltaire and The Human League. Sheffield became a focal point for DIY- electronic groups at the end of the 70s. "Knife Slits Water" is a classic extended disco mix that managed to bring the punk 7" into the world of the dance 12". ACR would carry these two sensibilities throughout their career going on to embrace many other styles of dance music along the way including Disco, Reggae, Jazz and Brazilian music. The Banbarra track had been popular on the Northern Soul circuit and whilst ACR made music that expressed the depressed, decaying Sound of an industrial city in decline they were also true to their other Nothern roots which in Manchester, Leeds, Wigan and other Northern towns had been for many years US Soul, Funk and R¹n✛. A Certain Ratio¹s early cover of the US group Banbarra's "Shack Up" features the amazing funk drumming of new recruit Donald Johnson.

This became the first ESG album for 99 Records in New York.

Finishing their album early they decided to offer their remaining studio time to a band who had recently opened for them in New York called ESG. It was A Certain Ratio who went to New York to record their first album that managed to mix a sparse Manchester bleakness in their sound along with US funk/dance elements. Whilst New Order and later The Happy Mondays came to be the most successful Manchester bands associated with bringing dance music into their sound, it is their original label-mates, A Certain Ratio, who were in fact the first band to make the connection between punk and US Black dance music. A Certain Ratio were one of the first groups to be signed to Factory Records in Manchester. These groups reflected the changing face of a British multi-cultural society in the aftermath of Punk, taking on new musical influences such as Black American dance music, Reggae and Electronic music. This record features the groups that grew out of Punk and embraced dance music.