Itch-E & Scratch-E

Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen had been members of a Sydney ambient group called Pelican Daughters before splitting off to form Itch-E & Scratch-E, allegedly as a joke. The Simpsons-referencing and ecstasy-punning name certainly suggests that the idea of forming a techno duo started as a laugh, but Mac and Rantzen found themselves gaining mainstream recognition and suddenly acting as representatives of the Australian dance music scene when their tracks, several of them reworkings of Pelican Daughters numbers, became popular. In 1994 the single "Sweetness and Light" from their album Itch-E Kitch-E Koo made a dent in the charts and then won the ARIA award for best dance single, a new category at the time. Their acceptance speech was censored when they thanked Sydney's ecstasy dealers for doing their part. They quickly followed with their second album, Itch-E and Scratch-E...and Friends. Under the alternative name Boo Boo & Mace they recorded a 1998 album called Sublimely Pointless before returning to their original name for 2001's It Is What It Isn't. Paul Mac later went on to find fame as a solo artist and a member of the Dissociatives.