Orange Juice (band)

Orange Juice was a Scottish jangle pop band founded in the Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics (named after a model of guitar made by Burns) with his school-mate Alan Duncan, and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left an act called The Machetes.[5] They became Orange Juice in 1979, best known for their only UK Top 40 hit hit "Rip It Up," which reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1983.[6]

The band released their first singles during 1980 and 1981 on the independent Postcard Records label founded by Alan Horne, along with fellow Scottish bands Josef K and Aztec Camera. These included "Blue Boy" and "Simply Thrilled Honey".[7] Shortly afterwards, this line-up signed to Polydor Records and recorded their first album, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever. However, internal tensions led to Kirk and Daly leaving in early 1982 (they would go on to form a short-lived band called Memphis), and for the next two album releases the line-up was Collins and David McClymont on bass guitar and keyboards, with Malcolm Ross on guitar, vocals, and keyboards, and drummer Zeke Manyika. By early 1984, Ross and McClymont had left the group, leaving a core line-up of Collins and Manyika who recorded Orange Juice's final album, The Orange Juice, with Clare Kenny and Johnny Britten, produced by Dennis Bovell.

The band's only Top 40 hit, "Rip It Up" was achieved with the aid of the synthesizer – it was the first hit to use the Roland TB-303.[8]

The Postcard Records-era history of Orange Juice is featured in the 2015 documentary film Big Gold Dream.