Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine

Its music as complex, ironic, obtuse, and off-kilter as its eye-popping name, Brit pop duo Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine confused and delighted critics and fans in the early 1990s. Singer Jim “Jim Bob” Morrison and guitarist Les “Fruitbat” Carter originally met in the short-lived, but marginally successful 1980s indie act Jamie Wednesday. After that band dissolved, the pair honed a wholly original sound combining the bombast of progressive rock, the angst and anger of second-wave punk, and the serpentine elegance of art rock. Carter USM achieved considerable chart success in the U.K., but were confined mostly to college radio and the occasional late night MTV appearance in the states. They broke up in 1998, but reformed briefly nearly a decade later.