[1][2] Their name refers to United States carton show, The Simpsons' characters, Itchy and Scratchy, as well as the drug, ecstasy or E.[2] According to Jody Macgregor of AllMusic the name "certainly suggests that the idea of forming a techno duo started as a laugh.
[1] They initially performed a techno sound which drew on early bleep techno as well as influenced by fellow Sydney-based, Severed Heads (Tom Ellard of that group had helped produce an album by Mac's earlier band, The Lab, which was never released).
The melodic influence of Mac, trained in classical music, gave them a distinctive sound which eventually led to pop success.
Kristian Hatton of Haarp Media, in July 2015, listed the album as one of his Top 100 Albums in Niche Electronic Music, and explained "[it] showed that electronic music in our country – although always influenced by America and Europe – could gain attention from a mainstream audience despite being from the underground.
"[3] The lead single from the album, "Sweetness and Light", was released in May 1994, and was co-written with Justin Brandis (of Pelican Daughters).
"[7] Although this was bleeped out of the TV broadcast, a sponsor of the awards, the National Drug Offensive, withdrew their funding.
"[1] According to McFarlane the friends appearing on the album included Crackerjack, a "high energy house" duo (with Mac); Event Horizon (comprising Lindo and Rantzen) which provided "funky bleeps"; Alien Headspace's "electronic jazz"; and Lindo's "hypnotic dub".
[1] By 2001 the duo had reverted to Itch-E and Scratch-E and released another studio album, It Is What It Isn't (1 May 2001), but they disbanded in that year with Mac pursuing his solo career.
[2] In January 2010 the duo announced on their MySpace page that they had reformed as Itch-E and Scratch-E. During that year they released another studio album, Hooray for Everything!!!
[9] In 2015, "Sweetness and Light" was listed at number 1 in In the Mix's '100 Greatest Australian Dance Tracks of All Time' with Nick Jarvis saying "Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen's greatest track symbolises the turning point when the previously underground rave scene suddenly stepped into the mainstream consciousness.