Half Man Half Biscuit, often abbreviated to "HMHB", are an indie rock band … Read Full Bio ↴Half Man Half Biscuit, often abbreviated to "HMHB", are an indie rock band from Birkenhead, England, active sporadically since the 1984, known for its satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group consists of Nigel Blackwell (lead vocals, guitar), Neil Crossley (bass), Ken Hancock (lead guitar), and Carl Henry (drums). Throughout their career they have been signed to Probe Plus records.

The band's first single, The Trumpton Riots, topped the British Independent Chart in 1986, and they went on to perform a set at the Glastonbury Festival, rapidly becoming tipped as the 'next big thing'. Their sound at the time was very much in the post-punk tradition, with similarities to Josef K or The Fall. After the first record, someone in the band learnt to tune a guitar, which some feel removed something of the particular character of the music. So, as their second single "Dickie Davies Eyes" entered the national top 40, lead singer Nigel Blackwell announced his retirement claiming that rock and roll success had led to him missing too much daytime television. 1986 saw the release of a compilation album and Nigel's return to the dole.

The band reformed in 1990, beginning to tour and give interviews. Their third album, McIntyre, Treadmore And Davitt, showed a move forwards in terms of musical technique, and a wider musical palette. Since then, the band have produced a new album every two or three years, and remain a much loved fixture on the British music scene.

Half Man Half Biscuit were long championed by DJ John Peel, for whom they recorded twelve sessions before Peel's death in 2004, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return.

The band played live more and more infrequently, preferring one-off gigs to tours, driving home each night to sleep in their own beds and arranging concerts to coincide with Tranmere Rovers' away fixtures, a football team supported by Neil and Nigel. Half Man Half Biscuit famously turned down the chance to appear on seminal 80s rock show The Tube, as Tranmere were playing that night, even though Channel Four offered to fly them by helicopter to the game following their take in the studio.

The band's musical styles often parody popular genres, while their lyrics are dense with cultural allusions, usually to UK popular culture and geography (Blackwell often refers to North Wales, often in the context of hillwalking in Snowdonia; he also appears fond of Shropshire, East Anglia and Oxfordshire) or to the more obscure backwaters of the lower divisions of British or international football. Blackwell's enthusiasm does not only encompass popular culture; to give just a few examples, explicit references to Sylvia Plath, the works of Thomas Hardy, and the Bible are all to be found in his lyrics. In the context of HMHB's enthusiasm for football, Blackwell's close resemblance to footballer Jaap Stam has been frequently commented upon.

As the nineties progressed Nigel's love of blues and folk became more and more apparent both in musical style and lyrical references, as befits a group who perhaps more than any other record the minutiae of everyday life and culture. In 2002 Andy Kershaw dubbed them "the most authentic English folk group since the Clash". Bassist Crossley's musical tastes include many late-70s/early-80s new wave or post-punk bands, and at gigs HMHB have been heard to perform covers of tracks by acts as diverse as Joy Division, Tim Buckley, The Beach Boys and Tiffany.

Blackwell has also started making references to various fictional bands who appear not only on the sleeves of HMHB releases (for example "Joe Public And The General Consensus") but also in the songs -- a long essay on "Evil Gazebo" (and that band's relationship to "Pankhurst") appears on the liner notes of Trouble Over Bridgwater and both bands are mentioned in the songs. Assorted fake cover version acts have also been mentioned in HMHB songs such as "I Can't Believe It's Not Focus". In interviews Nigel has alluded to the possibility of there being an HMHB tribute band called "It Ain't Half Man, Mum", most recently in a BBC Radio 3 interview with Andy Kershaw prior to summer 2007's appearance at the Brampton Live folk festival, where they headlined on Saturday night. However as yet no one has come forward with any evidence to support the existence of said tribute act, and the likelihood is that the whole thing is one of Nigel's own creations to amuse or confuse journalists and fans. The tribute band Half Arsed Half Biscuit do exist.

In 2001, Nigel Blackwell provided the voice over for a BP television advert.

The band's first release since 2005's album Achtung Bono is titled CSI:Ambleside, and was released on April 28, 2008.

In April 2010, the band's 2005 song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from Achtung Bono was the subject of a Facebook campaign to get it to #6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of indie station BBC 6 Music. The song only peaked at #56 on 11 April 2010, but this was the first UK Top 75 chart appearance for the band in their history. It also reached No.3 in the Official Independent Singles chart the same week and was No.1 in the HMV UK Digital Downloads Top 40 Tracks on Friday 16 April, knocking Ultravox's Vienna off the top - itself part of a separate Facebook campaign the previous week.

Lyrics are steadily being transcribed and argued over at The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project.

Breaking News
Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

We're just receiving reports of an incident at a farm in Sussex where a number of people have been arrested in connection with "Annoying The Nation".
It is believed that that the owner of the farm, a Mr. Hibbert, has been co-operating with Police and government officials in a plot codenamed Operation Less Pricks, and kindly granted permission for the use of his seventeenth century tithe barn as a temporary holding place for those arrested. Although not confirmed, we are led to understand that those already charged include:
Bus drivers who don't wait for people to sit down before pulling away from the bus stop;
Taxi drivers who use their horns instead of knocking on the door;
People who moan at the council about the streets being full of litter, not stopping to think that it is people who drop litter, not the council;
A room full of drama teachers listening to Bjork;
Grown men with replica shirts worn over their jumpers, who stand up and stretch out their arms when the opposing team fail to hit the target;
An assortment of scriptwriters, novelists and playwrights who own Agas but don't know how to use them;

A musical equipment reviewer responsible for an article titled "Microphone of the Month";
A woman who described herself as "A little bit Bridget, a little bit Ally, a little bit Sex In The City" and chose to call her baby boy Fred as a childishly rebellious attempt at a clever reaction to those who might have expected her to call him Julian or Rupert. Bit of advice: call him Rupert, it fits, and besides it's a good name. Don't be calling him Fred or Archie, with all its cheeky but lovable working class scamp connotations, unless you really do have plans for him to spend his life in William Hill's waiting for them to weigh in at Newton Abbott.
Also being held is a whole wall full of teenagers spitting needlessly;
An amateur thug in camouflage trousers whose Japanese fighting dog had run amok on a Swindon council estate;
A man from the record company who said that George Michael continues to challenge social taboos through his music;
Lisa Riley;
Continuity announcers introducing comedy shows;
A pub band who get uppity when everyone goes to the bar during a song they've written themselves;
A group of football fans referred to as Commodores, as in once, twice, three times a season, who feed sugar lumps to police horses at Cup Finals;
An artist who said his next album would be more "song-based";
A man who informs people that he gets up at six am every morning and seemed to want a medal;
People who say they speak as they find and are somehow proud of it;
Journalists who try to spell an interviewee's laugh;
An organisation who declared an awareness week for awareness weeks;

And a council worker who dropped litter.
We'll bring you more details as they emerge…

Overall Meaning

The song "Breaking News" by Half Man Half Biscuit is a satirical take on contemporary societal issues. The lyrics constitute a fictitious report about an incident at a Sussex farm where people have been arrested for annoying the nation. The farm's owner, Mr. Hibbert, is assisting the police and government officials in Operation Less Pricks by allowing them to use his tithe barn as a temporary holding place for the arrested. The song lists the people who have already been charged and imprisoned, ranging from bus drivers who don't wait for people to sit down to teenagers spitting needlessly.

The song mocks the trivial things that people do to annoy others, such as taxi drivers who honk their horns instead of knocking on the door and grown men who wear replica shirts over their jumpers and stretch out their arms when the opposing team scores. The song features a range of characters, including a woman who describes herself as "A little bit Bridget, a little bit Ally, a little bit Sex in the City," a man who gets up at six am every day and thinks he deserves a medal and the council worker who drops litter. The song embodies the idea that contemporary society is bothered by trivial things, and people overreact to minor inconveniences.

Overall, the song's interpretation is that modern society is annoyed by insignificant matters, and it highlights the ridiculousness of these situations. The song shows the artists' ability to create social commentary using humor, and its satirical approach highlights the true frustration of modern-day petty issues.

Line by Line Meaning

We're just receiving reports of an incident at a farm in Sussex where a number of people have been arrested in connection with "Annoying The Nation".
We have received reports that the police have arrested several individuals who annoyed other people within the country.

It is believed that that the owner of the farm, a Mr. Hibbert, has been co-operating with Police and government officials in a plot codenamed Operation Less Pricks, and kindly granted permission for the use of his seventeenth century tithe barn as a temporary holding place for those arrested.
The farm owner, Mr. Hibbert, reportedly collaborated with the police and government officials on a plan called 'Operation Less Pricks' and allowed them to use his seventeenth-century tithe barn as a temporary holding place for the arrested individuals.

Although not confirmed, we are led to understand that those already charged include:
The list of individuals who have been accused of annoying others is not official, but we have been provided with a collection of names.

Bus drivers who don't wait for people to sit down before pulling away from the bus stop;
The police believe that there are several bus drivers who leave bus stops even though not all individuals have taken their seats, causing discomfort to the passengers.

Taxi drivers who use their horns instead of knocking on the door;
The police have arrested several taxi drivers who do not knock on the passenger's door but instead use their horns to alert the passengers of their arrival.

People who moan at the council about the streets being full of litter, not stopping to think that it is people who drop litter, not the council;
Individuals complaining about littered streets to the council are among the arrested lot, although they should realize that littering is the act of individuals and not the council's fault.

A room full of drama teachers listening to Bjork;
A group of drama teachers who listened to Bjork's music is among the individuals arrested.

Grown men with replica shirts worn over their jumpers, who stand up and stretch out their arms when the opposing team fail to hit the target;
The police arrested several grown men who wore replica shirts over their jumpers and taunted the opposing team by standing up and stretching their arms when they fail to hit the target.

An assortment of scriptwriters, novelists and playwrights who own Agas but don't know how to use them;
A group of scriptwriters, novelists, and playwrights who own Agas but do not know how to use them were arrested, according to unofficial sources.

A musical equipment reviewer responsible for an article titled "Microphone of the Month";
An individual who reviewed musical equipment and wrote an article titled 'Microphone of the Month' is among the arrested list.

A woman who described herself as "A little bit Bridget, a little bit Ally, a little bit Sex In The City" and chose to call her baby boy Fred as a childishly rebellious attempt at a clever reaction to those who might have expected her to call him Julian or Rupert. Bit of advice: call him Rupert, it fits, and besides it's a good name. Don't be calling him Fred or Archie, with all its cheeky but lovable working class scamp connotations, unless you really do have plans for him to spend his life in William Hill's waiting for them to weigh in at Newton Abbott.
There's a woman who named her son 'Fred' because she wanted to appear rebellious, but she was advised that 'Rupert' is a better name, and naming him 'Fred' or 'Archie' could suggest that he's a working-class uneducated person hanging at William Hill's waiting for horseraces bets in Newton Abbott.

Also being held is a whole wall full of teenagers spitting needlessly;
The police have arrested an entire wall of teenagers who were spitting for no apparent reason.

An amateur thug in camouflage trousers whose Japanese fighting dog had run amok on a Swindon council estate;
The police arrested an amateur thug in camouflage trousers whose Japanese fighting dog caused chaos on a Swindon council estate.

A man from the record company who said that George Michael continues to challenge social taboos through his music;
A record company representative who indicated that George Michael's music challenges social norms is among the people arrested.

Lisa Riley;
Lisa Riley, a famous actress, is apparently among those arrested individuals, although this information is not officially confirmed.

Continuity announcers introducing comedy shows;
Individuals who introduce continuity and manage the flow of a comedy show are among the people arrested.

A pub band who get uppity when everyone goes to the bar during a song they've written themselves;
A pub band that gets annoyed when patrons visit the bar during their self-written songs is among those arrested.

A group of football fans referred to as Commodores, as in once, twice, three times a season, who feed sugar lumps to police horses at Cup Finals;
The police arrested a group of football fans nicknamed 'Commodores' due to their habit of feeding sugar lumps to police horses during Cup Finals matches.

An artist who said his next album would be more "song-based";
An artist who promised that his next album would be more based on songs is among those arrested.

A man who informs people that he gets up at six am every morning and seemed to want a medal;
The police arrested a man who brags about waking up every day at six in the morning, and it seems like he needs an award for his efforts.

People who say they speak as they find and are somehow proud of it;
The police arrested individuals who say they speak their minds and are proud of it.

Journalists who try to spell an interviewee's laugh;
Journalists who attempt to spell a person's laugh during an interview is among those people arrested.

An organization who declared an awareness week for awareness weeks;
A group that organized a week meant to raise awareness for the existence of awareness weeks is among those arrested.

And a council worker who dropped litter.
A council worker who was caught littering is among the individuals arrested.

We'll bring you more details as they emerge…
We will provide more information on this incident once we receive additional details.

Contributed by Samuel P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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