They released their debut album, The Purple Gang Strikes in 1968, with one track, "Granny Takes a Trip" banned from being broadcast by the BBC.
[4] Also noting that the band's lead singer at the time (Pete Walker) was nicknamed 'Lucifer', the BBC Controller said "... a song with a dubious title designed to corrupt the nation's youth – and a band that boasts a warlock for a singer will not be tolerated by any decent society..."[citation needed] An album, The Purple Gang Strikes was released in 1968,[1] but failed to sell, although Pirate radio station DJs such as John Peel praised the group.
[1] In 1998 the band reformed and recorded an album, Night of the Uncool, with several new songs by Joe Beard, some of which were produced by Gerry Robinson, the mandolin and harmonica player from the original 1967 line-up.
[2] They enjoyed some commercial success in Eastern Europe; in Bulgaria and Hungary one of their singles, "Sunset Over the Mersey",[2] entered the national charts.
The band's unofficial headquarters was The Castle Inn, Macclesfield, where they regularly practised and jammed for their enthusiastic local fans.