The Opposition
| The Opposition | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Opposition |
| Genres | Post-punk, new wave |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Double Vision, Charisma, Mrs Jones, Right Back |
| Associated acts | So |
| Website | |
| Members |
Mark Long Jean Daniel Glorioso |
| Past members |
Marcus Bell Ralph Hall |
The Opposition (also known as Opposition) is a long-running post-punk band from London, England, that featured Ralph Hall, Marcus Bell, Mark Long, Sterling Campbell, Lol Ford, Terence Devine King and Jean Daniel Glorioso. Founded in 1979, the Opposition released their first single, "Very Little Glory", on the independent record label, Double Vision Records. The single received some good press and was soon followed by their first album "Breaking the Silence"(1981), a UK and French tour followed. They then recorded "Intimacy", and with the press picking up on the band, they switched from indie to major and secured a recording contract with Charisma Records, recording "Promises" (1984). A brief tour of the US followed as support act to Thomas Dolby and extensive touring of Europe before releasing "Empire Days" (1985), still with the engineer Kenny Jones and for the occasion joined by John Porter. Meanwhile Charisma had been bought by Phonogram who had in turn been engulfed by Virgin and without changing contracts the band found themselves with the third record label in as many albums. It was time for change. The band took a hiatus in 1987, when Bell and Long began working on more commercial-sounding material under the name So. Ralph was replaced for this project by Sterling Campbell (Drums). Their album "Horseshoe in the Glove" (1986) yielded a minor US hit with the song "Are You Sure", which, despite receiving a moderate amount of airplay on rock radio and being named an MTV Video of the Week, missed reaching the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 41. After the US experience and two years touring they started playing under the name Opposition again and released the intimist album "Blue Alice Blue" in 1990, again recorded with Kenny Jones. Moving to Mrs Jones Records in 1990, they then released "War Begins at Home" (1994), "EP One" (1995), Sterling then left the group to play with David Bowie and was replaced by Jean Daniel Glorioso for "Blinder" (2004) "EP2" (2010) and "Love & Betrayal" (2011) using the same team of musicians as the "Blinder" album.
Marcus Bell died in December 2014.
Discography
- Breaking The Silence (1980), Double Vision Records
- Intimacy (1983), Double Vision Records
- Promises (1984), Charisma Records
- Empire Days (1985), Charisma Records
- Blue Alice Blue (1990), Declic Records
- '81/'82 (1991), Midnight Music
- War Begins At Home (1994), Universal
- Blinder (2004), Mrs Jones Records
- New York, Paris, Peckham (2004), Right Back Records – live album
- EP2 (2010), Mrs Jones Records
- Love and Betrayal (2011), Mrs Jones Records