The video opened an edition of BBC's Top of the Pops 2, and was voted Video of the Year in Melody Maker by prankster Dennis Pennis who said: ‘somehow it’s not sexist’. An early candidate for album of the year.’Ī single from the album ’Hey You Chick’ was shot in the band's stamping ground of Brixton, South London, the camera relentlessly following a girl's bottom around the streets. The extraordinarily diverse set veers from electronic ambience to slick pop tunes. The album was widely acclaimed: Music Week called it 'a storming debut album by this outfit who are impossible to categorise. The group was now a trio of Fred, Patrick and Karen. But with their 1996 debut album, ROC, the group revealed a more personal side as Fred and Karen's vocals took centre stage. 'Girl With A Crooked Eye' is duet about domestic violence on holiday. The singles displayed a tendency to black humour. Of the single 'God Willing' Dazed & Confused magazine said: 'pseudo-religious spoken word over ambient pop, if it was the only record R.O.C ever released it would still put them in the tope 50 best British bands'. Airing their Radio 1 session, Peel said '"you never know what you're gonna get next from this lot, do you? I'm all in favour of that." Their releases revealed R.O.C's disregard for genres, throwing rock, dance, spoken-word and noise influences at their evolving songs. 'Girl With A Crooked Eye' made 1994's John Peel Festive 50 and earned R.O.C a session on the dj's Radio 1 show. They released 5 singles/EPs on their Little Star label, quickly gaining critical acclaim and airplay from the likes of John Peel on UK Radio 1, and KCRW in LA. R.O.C began with Fred and Patrick making demos on 4-track cassette, laying film dialogue over Drumatix beats and Casio keyboards.īy 1993 R.O.C was Fred, Patrick, Karen Sheridan (from Denver USA), Russell Warby, and producer Peter Burgess.