Rip Rig + Panic were formed in 1980 by drummer Bruce Smith, guitarist and saxophonist Gareth Sager and pianist Mark Springer following the dissolution of Smith and Sager's previous band, The Pop Group, with which Springer had performed live.
This Is It"/"The Ultimate in Fun (Is Going to the Disco with My Baby)" on 13 August 1981, prompting Gavin Martin of NME to write "Rip Rig and Panic tread a fine line between undisciplined wasted and ingenious commercial aplomb.
The group received high marks from NME for virtuoso playing and esoteric sense of humour, a reviewer calling it "an act of faith in tumult.
[7] For their second album, I Am Cold, the band adopted a more commercial approach while further embracing jazz and world music influences.
The band made a guest appearance in an episode of the British sitcom The Young Ones performing their 1982 single "You're My Kind of Climate".
[9] Most members of Rip Rig and Panic (without Springer) became Float Up CP in 1984 and released a single, "Joy's Address", and the album Kill Me in the Morning, but amicably dissolved shortly thereafter;[10] Neneh Cherry and Bruce Smith then formed the even shorter-lived God Mother & Country in 1985.