'"[5] The ensuing attention earned them a contract with Fiction Records, and their debut album, The Affectionate Punch, followed on 1 August 1980.

A string of 1981 non-album singles on the label Situation Two were compiled as Fourth Drawer Down, released that October.

[8] These releases saw the band develop an interest in experimenting with unorthodox instrumentation and recording techniques, including sounds being amplified through the tube of a vacuum cleaner on the track "Kitchen Person".

Also in 1981, Rankine and MacKenzie released a version of "Kites" under the name 39 Lyon Street, with Christine Beveridge on lead vocals.

[12][13] Two other hits followed, "Club Country" and "18 Carat Love Affair", a vocal version of the instrumental track "Nothinginsomethingparticular".

In 1988, WEA/Warner rejected the fourth Associates album The Glamour Chase considering it not commercially viable (it was later released on a two-disc set with Perhaps).

However, they decided to release MacKenzie's synthpop/techno-pop cover of "Heart of Glass"[15] as a single and also put the track on the record company's Vaultage From The Electric Lighting Station compilation.

This track was to be MacKenzie's last release whilst under contract to WEA in the United Kingdom, as he signed to AVL/Virgin subsidiary Circa Records (still under the Associates name at this point).

Between 1987 and 1992, MacKenzie worked with Blank and musical partner Dieter Meier of Swiss avant-garde outfit Yello.

MacKenzie went back to his solo work, signing a deal with Nude Records and finding a new collaborative partner in Steve Aungle.

[18] Rankine later became a lecturer in music at Stow College in Glasgow, and worked with Belle and Sebastian on their 1996 debut album, Tigermilk.

In addition to the original albums, two compilation albums were released: Double Hipness (2000), a collection of early tracks with the 1993 reunion demos; and Singles (2004), an extended version of Popera – The Singles Collection which caught up with post-1990 material and included the cover of Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging".

[28] The Associates drew stylistically on a variety of genres, including art rock, disco, glam, minimalism, balladry and cabaret.

[33] Artists who have covered "Party Fears Two", include the Divine Comedy,[34] Dan Bryk, King Creosote and Heaven 17.

[36] Ian Rankin took the title of his 2015 Inspector Rebus novel, Even Dogs in the Wild, from a track on The Affectionate Punch, and the song itself has a role in the story.