The core members were Doug Wimbish (bass), Keith LeBlanc (percussion) and Skip McDonald (guitar) and producer (sometimes credited as "mixologist") Adrian Sherwood.
[4] Their first LP produced under that name As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade was amongst the most industrial, noise-oriented and uncompromising of the group's output, described by John Leland as "a scary mess of random sounds, spoken words, and tiny snippets of music, processed and distorted to a grating electric edge.
These tracks combined funk basslines, hammerblow percussion and Sherwood's trademark sample-laden dub production and represent the defining Tackhead sound.
The follow-up album, 1990's Strange Things (the first on a major label, EMI), despite some praise for harder-edge singles such as "Dangerous Sex" and "Class Rock" was not as well received by critics.
McDonald leads the Little Axe project, and LeBlanc ran a record label and played with two jazz outfits, Noah Ground and Nikki Yeoh's Infinitum.
In April 2022, the entire group, also featuring Mark Stewart, played a short tour of the UK, comprising performances in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London.