Despite an intermittent recording career, the Television Personailities cult stature has grown steadily since they stumbled out of the indie punk explosion, over a decade and a half ago, with charming classics like 'Part Time Punks' and 'Smashing Time'. They have enjoyed one of the punk/new wave era's longest, most erratic and most accoladed aftermaths: For some, they have remained the quintessential Punk band, whilst for others they have become the foremost exponents of post-sixties pop psychedelia and an indelible influence on many of the early Creation label and 'C-86' bands.

As Creation boss Alan McGee explains, 'The three most influential people on me starting the label were Dan Treacy, Ed Ball and Joe Foster. Dan Treacy 'cos he's a great songwriter and also because I was really intrigued about how he did Whaam!; he made it possible for someone like me to put out records; Ed Ball because of the early Times records and, f__in' hell, you meet him and he's so real and enthusiastic; And Joe Foster, because he's literally got the best taste in music of anyone I know, bar Bobby Gillespie. Quite remarkable then, that these three most influential people were all original Television Personalities. An abiding memory from those days, is that of Dan constantly complaining and only half-jokingly, that Alan followed him everywhere like a blood-hound. No wonder then, that by the mid-80s, loads of the bands spoke of the TVPs in tones of either hushed reverence or unrestrained enthusiasm.

It's a legacy which has continued right up to the present day, their records and songs cited as favourites and influences by everyone from aspiring hopefuls to pop stars like St. Etienne and illustrious stars like Kurt Kobain and Evan Dando. Over the course of a musical evolution which led them from wide-eyed, shambling pop to the outer reaches of psychedelia and back, the group directly influenced virtually every major pop uprising of the period, with the likes of feedback virtuosos Jesus and Mary Chain, shambling pop titans the Pastels and lo-fi kingpins Pavement, readily acknowldging the TVPs inspiration: "In the eyes of a knowing few, they have easily been the most consistently moving band of the last two decades; last word then to Alan McGee, " 'The Painted Word', alongside Big Star's 'Sisters Lovers' and any one of Nick Drake's LPs, is one of the best emotionally introspective LPs I've ever heard. Dan Treacy's songs tear me apart. This is their finest moment. Both the humour and tragedy of the songs are beautiful."
Check out Dan Treacy's blog here:
http://windlessairmusic.tripod.com/televisionpersonalities/id8.html