The Grid

The Grid were an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Clear", "Rollercoaster" and "Floatation". Ball died on 22 October 2025.

Band members Richard Norris – keyboards, drum programming David Ball – keyboards, programming (died 2025) Sacha Souter – vocals

History The Grid formed in 1988, after both Ball and Norris had worked with Psychic TV on the Jack the Tab – Acid Tablets Volume One album. They recorded the track "Meet Every Situation Head On" together as "M.E.S.H.". The Grid had their first success with their debut single, "Floatation", released on East West Records in 1990. They went on to release a string of ten UK hit singles and four albums, and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album Evolver reached No. 14 in the UK Albums Chart. The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", features elaborate banjo lines played by Roger Dinsdale. "Swamp Thing" proved to be a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching No. 3 in the UK and Australia, and selling a total of one million copies.

In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus in order to pursue individual music interests. Norris formed The Droyds with Andy Chatterley, who went on to remix tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey. Norris also wrote the official biography of Paul Oakenfold, published in 2007. Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond, and also wrote music scores for films. Norris has since formed the psychedelic duo, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, with DJ Erol Alkan, and has released a number of solo records and remixes under the name The Time and Space Machine.

The duo reunited in 2005, initially playing two gigs under the name GDM with female singer Misty Woods, before writing and recording new material as The Grid. A single, "Put Your Hands Together", was released in 2007 and an album, Doppelgänger, followed in 2008. Both were released on the Some Bizzare label. The album featured vocals by the British musician, Chris Braide.

In 2018, during the second reunion of Soft Cell, Ball and Norris released a new album as the Grid, One Way Traffic, which was recorded as part of Moog Music's "The Moog Sound Lab" program, using the Moog modular synthesizers.

In 2021, Ball and Norris collaborated with Robert Fripp on a new album, Leviathan.

Discography

Albums Year Album UK AUS N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart. SWE SWI Label 1990 Electric Head – – – – East West Records 1992 456 – 199 – – Virgin Records 1994 Evolver 14 51 27 46 Deconstruction Records 1995 Music for Dancing 67 – – – Deconstruction Records 2008 Doppelgänger – – – – Some Bizzare Records 2018 One Way Traffic – – – – Moog Recordings Library 2021 Leviathan (with Robert Fripp) – – – – Discipline Global Mobile

Singles Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications(sales thresholds) Album UKUK chart peaks: All except "Origins of Dance": "Origins of Dance" AUSAustralian (ARIA Chart) peaks: Top 50 peaks: "Floatation" (ARIA) peak: Top 100 peaks to December 2010: "Rollercoaster": "Texas Cowboys": AUT BEL(Fla) GER IRE NED NOR SWE SWI 1989 "On the Grid" — — — — — — — — — — Single only "Intergalactia" — — — — — — — — — — Electric Head 1990 "Floatation" 60 102 — — — — — — — — "A Beat Called Love" 64 — — — — — — — — — "Origins of Dance" 96 — — — — — — — — — Single only 1991 "Boom!" — — — — — — — — — — 456 1992 "Figure of 8" 50 — — — — — — — — — "Heartbeat" 72 188 — — — — — — — — 1993 "Crystal Clear" 27 — — — — — — — — — "Texas Cowboys" 21 — — — — 18 — — 36 — Evolver 1994 "Swamp Thing" 3 3 4 4 13 4 7 2 4 6BPI: Silver ARIA: Platinum "Rollercoaster" 19 59 — 45 — 11 — — 31 — "Texas Cowboys" (re-release) 17 74 — 40 — 18 — — — — 1995 "Diablo" 32 — — — — — — — — — Music for Dancing 2006 "Slammer" / "Slinker" — — — — — — — — — — Doppelgänger 2007 "Put Your Hands Together" — — — — — — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

The Grid

Bron en licentie