The group began as Buba & the Shop Assistants, consisting of lead vocalist Aggi (Annabel Wright, later of The Pastels), guitarist David Keegan, bassist John Peutherer, and drummer Moray Crawford.
[5] The exposure they gained from the sessions enabled the group to have two songs to be voted into John Peel's Festive Fifty in both 1985 and 1986.
[1] Also in that year, they signed to Chrysalis Records's sub-label Blue Guitar for another single, "I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You", as well as their only album, Shop Assistants.
In 2024 it was re-released on vinyl and on a double CD set which includes unreleased and live tracks, and a John Peel session.
[1] After a two-year hiatus, the group reformed without Taylor, and with Kneale on vocals, MacPhail on bass, and the addition of Margarita Vasquez-Ponte of Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes on drums.