Formed when the O’Neill brothers, Sean and Damian, parted from the fragmenting Undertones in 1983, That Petrol Emotion signalled a new direction for the pair, with frothing guitar, a fuller sound, and a more pronounced political agenda. Their pop-based debut and its follow-up, BABBLE, were dominated by frantic guitar and U.S.-born frontman Steve Mack’s whole-hearted delivery. They signed to Virgin and expanded their mind with END OF THE MILLENNIUM PSYCHOSIS BLUES, which included the bone-shattering disco of "Groove Check," and the Sonic Youth-inspired "Under The Sky." They reached a frenetic peak on CHEMICRAZY, both chaotic and well-crafted, featuring the riffy-melodic modern rock hit "Hey Venus," but the record was a commercial failure and Virgin dropped the band and by 1994 they were no more.