Doctor & the Medics first gained notice through the striking visual of chalk-faced frontman Clive Jackson, better known as the Doctor, whose appearance blended the Joker with Gene Simmons of KISS, along with their new wave cover of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky," which topped the U.K. chart. Yet the group had already been active for several years before issuing that novelty single. Born on July 7, 1961, at Knotty Ash Hospital in Liverpool, England, Jackson assembled Doctor & the Medics in the early '80s alongside Steve Maguire on guitar, Richard Searle on bass, backup singers Wendi and Collette, and Vom on drums. Sharing the era's '60s psychedelic revival with the Cult and Gene Loves Jezebel, the band fused gothic aesthetics and sonic elements into their approach. The tongue-in-cheek hit not only propelled them into the mainstream but also locked them into a cartoonish image reinforced by their playful style, blocking any further broad commercial breakthrough. Even after the single's momentum subsided, Doctor & the Medics kept performing live and issuing recordings; during the '90s they launched their own imprint, Madman Records, which put out Instant Heaven in 1996.
