As if to make their music even less accessible, the lyrics were often indistinguishable, and once the words had been fathomed, what they were often found to be singing were extreme left-wing political views. Railing against consumerism, Americanisation and the media, with most songs finishing in under two minutes, they were unconcerned with commercial success, although their penultimate release 'Cubist Pop Manifesto' brought them critical support from the music press.
One of their E.P's, 'Two Kan Guru', featured liner notes offering a fake press release regarding the history of the band, which described how they had cut their teeth as Wham!'s backing band, and there are sources that still take this seriously today, missing the whole point of the band.
Following the break-up, Alan Brown joined The Great Leap Forward, and a compilation of the entire Big Flame output was released on one CD in 1996.
Alongside only slightly more accessible acts such as the Pop Group and the Birthday Party, Big Flame were hugely influential considering their small output and uncommercial sound based on funk, jazz and punk. Indeed, interviews with Richey from the Manic Street Preachers often featured references to Big Flame, with him claiming they would have been the perfect band had they fused their political ideals with a commercial sound and taken it into the mainstream.
IF YOU LIKED THESE YOU'LL LIKE BIG FLAME: The Pop Group, The Birthday Party, Gang of Four, Manic Street Preachers, The Minutemen.