Compulsion was an Irish punk band. They formed in the 1990 by Josephmary (singer) and Sid Rainey (bassist) as Thee Amazing Colossal Men. They signed a contract with Virgin Records, but after winning a lawsuit against their record label, they became "Compulsion" in 1992. Joined by guitarist Garret Lee and drummer Jan-Willem Alkema, they moved to North London and signed to One Little Indian. They released several EPs and two albums. The first, Comforter, was labelled by the NME as part of the "New Wave of New Wave", while the second, The Future is Medium, saw them sport identical black outfits and orange hairdos.

The group split in 1996, after which Lee formed Jacknife Lee and later produced Snow Patrol and U2 and broke sales records. Alkema joined China Drum and later Driven to Collision. Sid is now a writer and has created/produced an animated kid's TV series called Underground Ernie for the BBC.

Discography

• Compulsion (EP, 1992)
• Casserole (EP, 1993)
• Safety (EP, 1993)
• Comforter (1994)
• Boogie Woogie (EP, 1994)
• Hi-Fi (Compilation, 1995)
• Question Time for the Proles (single, 1996)
• The Future is Medium (1996)
• I Like Compulsion and Compulsion Likes Me (Compilation, 2002)

References

• The Forgotten Band Planet: Compulsion
• All Music Guide: Compulsion
• trouser press: Compulsion
• Everything2: Compulsion
• Whispern & Hollerin: Compulsion