[3][5] Gilpin had earlier performed as a solo artist in New Zealand, following his winning a TV talent quest, New Faces, in 1972 (second place in the same show was Shona Laing).

Fragments of Time developed a quirky, futurist, paranoia-themed blend of new wave, punk, and pub rock, amalgamating some of the textures common to Britain's Ultravox with those more associated with The Stranglers.

[10][11] Their debut album, Graffiti Crimes was issued in July 1979 to coincide with their national tour supporting Talking Heads.

[3][4][5] Added to later versions of the LP is their biggest hit, the synthesiser-driven single, "Computer Games",[3][4][5] which was co-written by Burns, Gilpin and Stanton.

[3][8] In October 1979 Mi-Sex supported Cheap Trick, The Canberra Times' Jonathon Green caught their gig at Bruce Stadium, "The New Zealanders played one of the best sets I have ever heard from them.

It was crystal clear and as tight as could be in a live performance... [They] managed to deliver an uncluttered sound which throbbed with energy and power.

[10][11] Although Mi-Sex toured Australia and New Zealand through 1981 – performing 366 gigs in that year – the group "found its popularity in slow decline.

"[3][5] Burns told The Australian Women's Weekly's Susan Moore that "When we arrived new wave was very full-on and we had pretty much a street image.

Then when we did Space Race, which we felt was an extension of what we were doing, I guess some people didn't like the idea of a concept album ... we copped a lot of flack.

[4][8] Late in 1982 Stanton temporarily left the band due to ill-health, he was replaced on guitar by Ted Yanni.

After four months, Stanton returned and Yanni remained until he was replaced in turn by Colin Bayley (ex-Silent Movies) on guitar.

Mi-Sex took a hiatus from February 1986; Stanton moved to London in April to work with Fairlight and produce feature film sound tracks.

[3] In November 1991, while returning to his home after a gig, he was seriously injured in a major car accident, and lapsed into a coma from which he never recovered.

Jon Stevens, Marc Hunter, Mark Williams, Daryl Braithwaite, Alex Smith and Angry Anderson each sang with the remaining Mi-Sex members.

[18] The band reunited for a fund-raising concert following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, with former Noiseworks bass player Steve Balbi on lead vocals.

[19] Stanton had been forced to sit out, having recently undergone serious surgery on his spine which rendered his entire left arm useless, but repairable with intricate neurosurgery.

In February 2016, Mi-Sex announced the release of their first single in 33 years, titled "Somebody", followed by an Extended play featuring "Somebody" and three re-recorded tracks.

[5] On 21 April, Muldoon claimed that popular music was "not culture", stating that "The records sold in this country are not Kiri Te Kanawa's, they are 50 to 1 those horrible pop groups and I'm not going to take the tax off them.

"[21] Mi-Sex were due to start a major New Zealand tour five weeks later, and – sensing an opportunity for publicity – Kevin Stanton invited Muldoon to attend their Wellington concert during a radio interview in Hamilton, an invitation which Muldoon was urged to accept when quizzed by the opposition in parliament.

[5] Muldoon was pleasant but Burns recalled seeing a newspaper article the next day in which he was quoted as saying that it was about as cultural as On the Mat, which was a wrestling show of the time.