Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham.

Young Marble Giants used tape recordings of Joyce's home-made drum machine, since they did not wish to have a drummer at that time.

The band toured Europe and North America and played in Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and New York.

[2] After the band split up in 1981, Stuart Moxham formed the Gist,[1] whose song "Love at First Sight" became a hit in continental Europe, when covered by French pop singer Étienne Daho, under the title "Paris, Le Flore".

The result was the album Random Rules (1993) and featured Spike (guitar and viola), younger brother Andrew (drums) and London-based French songwriter Louis Philippe (keyboard and arrangements).

Alison Statton, Spike and Simon Emmerson (later of Working Week and Afro Celt Sound System) formed Weekend (with Phil Moxham on bass)[1] and several jazz musicians including Larry Stabbins, Harry Beckett and Keith Tippett.

A reunion show was held in Hay-on-Wye on 27 May 2007, part of the Hay-on-Wye Festival, with Stuart Moxham's website explaining: "Young Marble Giants reform for a one-off celebration of Domino Records' re-release of their album Colossal Youth, combined in a triple CD package with the Lo-Fi, private reference recordings of the Salad Days album and the otherwise unobtainable Peel Sessions."

Convinced by the booking agency, the band also played a show for the BB-Mix Festival in Boulogne-Billancourt, just outside Paris, on 28 October 2007.

Instead of the drum machine they had originally used, younger Moxham brother Andrew joined the group playing an electronic-drumkit.

The band continued to perform over this period, including appearances at the Primavera Sound Festival on 31 May 2008, and at the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin on 16 January 2009.

Stuart Moxham was a fan of Manchester guitarist Vini Reilly's early work, and was also very interested in dub reggae.