The singer, Keith "Monkey" Warren, wears joker makeup, wildly patterned suits (such as checkerboard or polka dot), flared trousers, colourful dress shirts, a bowler hat and gloves.

The band's visual look is complemented by their stage shows, involving items such as streamers, confetti, playing cards, beach balls, joker hats, toy instruments, bubbles, and glitter.

[1] In 1980, the band recorded the songs "Sympathy" and "Sheer Enjoyment" for an intended single, but they were not released until the 1984 compilation album This Is Your Life.

That same year, the band began their relationship with Razor Records and released their second album, Sound of Music, featuring the single "Chinese Takeaway".

The relationship with Sire only lasted for two singles, "Tokyo" (produced by Vapors frontman David Fenton in 1984) and a cover of Marlene Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again" in 1985.

Their third album, Smart Alex, featuring previous singles "Bad Boy" and "Tokyo", was issued in 1985 on Razor Records.

Over the next couple of years, SOS released their own expanded reissues of Sound of Music, Smart Alex, Twenty-Seven and Rise and Shine.