The Adult Net

The Adult Net were a British indie pop band formed by British based American singer and guitarist Brix Smith in 1984, while she was a member of The Fall. The group were initially assisted by several members of The Fall, including Simon Rogers, Craig Scanlon and Karl Burns. The group issued four singles in 1985/86, Scanlon ceased playing after the debut single, and Burns left a single later. In 1988, the Smith/Rogers duo recruited former Smiths members Craig Gannon, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce to fill in the line up, but by the time the group recorded their only album in 1989, Rogers, Rourke and Joyce had all left. The final Adult Net line up was a quartet of Smith, Gannon, former Blondie member Clem Burke and The The member James Eller. After the band's 1989 debut album, The Honey Tangle, failed to chart, their label Fontana Records released them from their contract in 1990, and the group disbanded.

American singer and guitarist Brix Smith joined the British post punk band The Fall in 1983 and later married the band's founder, Mark E. Smith. While remaining with The Fall, Smith formed The Adult Net along with fellow Fall member Simon Rogers in late 1984, and they released a cover version of the American psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock's 1967 hit single, "Incense and Peppermints", on Beggars Banquet in April 1985. At the time, the official band line up was credited as Brix on vocals and guitar, Ottersley Kipling (i. e., Simon Rogers) on bass, Silki Guth (a. k. a. Craig Scanlon) on guitar, and 'Mask' Aiechmann (a. k. a. Karl Burns) on drums. This meant that the official Adult Net line up was essentially The Fall without Mark E. Smith, although Smith did appear as a guest on a few Adult Net recordings credited as 'Count Gunther Hoalingen'. Also, producer John Leckie was credited as Swami Anand Nagara, a pseudonym he would also use for his production work with psychedelic revivalists The Dukes of Stratosphear, who released their debut single the same month as The Adult Net debuted, being April 1985. "Edie" – a tribute to Edie Sedgwick, the American actress and one of Andy Warhol's superstars – was released in November 1985, For both 1986 singles, the group were officially credited as being simply 'Brix' and 'O. Kipling'. An album was recorded for Beggars Banquet in 1987 called Spin This Web but remains unreleased.

In an attempt to sign with Geffen Records, in 1988 Smith and Rogers recruited former Smiths members, Craig Gannon (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums) to The Adult Net. with a somewhat revised line up – Smith and Gannon were joined by James Eller on bass, and former Blondie drummer Clem Burke. The album failed to chart and the band were released by Fontana in October 1990, dissolving shortly thereafter. Stewart went on to describe The Honey Tangle as "glossy, jangly, sweet natured pop music that would sound perfectly at home in the Top 40 radio play lists of some alternate universe".