Members Malcom Eden (vocals), Tim Gane guitar), John Williamson (bass) and Gary Baker (drums) released a self-financed debut single in 1984.
The first album, 'I Am A Wallet' released in 1987 was a perfect example of the sound and lyrical content they had developed since their first release, and contained the wonderful 'Charles Windsor' (which was later covered by the Manic Street Preachers), which described proletariat thugs kidnapping Prince Charles in a run down Ford Cortina and taking him away to be beheaded.
Follow up, 'The Enraged Will Inherit the Earth' (1989) featured the brilliant anti-love song 'Boy Meets Girl, So What?', but the album suffered from a lack of progression in their sound, and an over emphasis on lyrical content that gave the impression that the message was more important than the medium. One step forward was that McCarthy had started to use recordings of political speeches at the beginning and end of their songs, and one such segment was copied wholesale by the Manics for their own b-side 'Specators of Suicide'. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Richey in particular was very vocal about the influence that McCarthy had on the development of the early Manics (and anyone who has bootlegs containing their early demos can hear for themselves), and in such a bleak Thatcherite mid-80's period, the band stood out in the classic anti-establishment manner by railing against consumerism and the control of the media.
'Banking, Violence and the Inner Life Today'(1990), their third and final album, saw them experiment more with keyboards and programmed sounds whilst keeping the guitar sound that was their trademark. The lyrics, in retrospect, seem to hint at their imminent split by being more defeatist in attitude than on their previous albums (although you could argue that sarcasm had always been made up quite a large part of their lyrical content). There were still a few gems on the album, such as the single 'Get A Knife Between Your Teeth', and another track which features a Margaret Thatcher sample at the intro proclaiming 'Long Live Free Enterprise!'
Early in 1990, the band decided they had had enough of the apathy they were railing against and dissolved, with only Tim Gane continuing immediately in the music business. Taking the experiments of the last album, as well as guest vocalist Laetitia Sadler along to his new venture, Stereolab, he found more critical and commercial success than McCarthy, but ultimately placed less emphasis on political lyrics to achieve this. However, it would be incorrect to say that he gave up on them altogether, as 'Ping Pong' by Stereolab is a relatively successful and catchy pop single that describes the boom and bust ideology of economics.
There were also two posthumous compilations, the best of which 'That's All Very Well, But' features BBC Radio sessions and collected tracks from their early singles, which show a pop sensibility that was never really exploited enough for their message to reach the mainstream, and therefore exact the changes in society that they seemed to be hoping for.
The post-Richey period Manics also returned to McCarthy's output in 2001 to cover 'We Are All Bourgeouis Now'.
IF YOU LIKE THESE, YOU'LL LIKE McCARTHY: Stereolab, The Smiths, Manic Street Preachers, Gang of Four, Hurrah!, Biff Bang Pow, Jasmine Minks.