TV Smith

Following the collapse of TV Smith's Explorers toward the close of 1981 and the Adverts' earlier triumphs receding steadily into memory, TV Smith began his solo work in early 1982 by recording the single "Burning Rain" with Rondelet labelmates the Nervous Germans. Internal label disputes prevented its appearance, yet the next year brought new sessions featuring guitarist Tim Renwick and ex-Adverts keyboard player Tim Cross.

Channel Five, Smith's debut solo album, surfaced in spring 1983 on the recently launched Expulsion label. The company folded months afterward, prompting two years of intensive writing and occasional live work before Smith next appeared publicly as a member of the band Cheap. That project remained active when Smith resumed solo activity in mid-1989 with a brief acoustic set at an Attila the Stockbroker show in north London.

He continued by delivering an unplugged take on the Cheap staple "Newshound" for the B-side of the band's 1990 12" "Third Term." After Cheap disbanded in 1991, Smith pursued solo work in earnest. Early performances alongside Tom Robinson and the album March of the Giants met with favorable reactions, while 1995's The Immortal Rich raised his profile higher still.

His solo rendering of the Adverts' Crossing the Red Sea album on acoustic guitar at the 1996 Holidays in the Sun punk festival, however, confirmed him as one of the country's most compelling live artists; the entire set later appeared on the One Chord Wonder DVD. Steady performances with German superstars Die Toten Hosen, whose first collaboration dated to their 1991 album Learning English, led to 1998's Generation Y appearing on the punk band's JKP imprint.

Die Toten Hosen also served as his backing group on 2001's Useless: The Very Best of TV Smith, supplying new recordings of a largely earlier catalog. Smith further recorded with Finland's Punk Lurex OK and Spain's Suzi & los Quattros, and he co-wrote a dozen songs on Die Toten Hosen's 1999 album Crash Landing.

By the early 21st century Smith was playing well over 100 shows annually throughout Europe and the U.S., a schedule chronicled in his 2006 book Getting There: The Tour Diaries. The growth of both his songwriting and stage delivery can be followed through 2003's Not a Bad Day and 2006's Misinformation Overload, performances whose force underscores the unexpected fact that the Adverts now date back more than thirty years.