A Certain Ratio were key to their native Manchester, England scene and consequently, post-punk. The band debuted in 1979 with "All Night Party," a single as astringent as anything else out at the time, then separated themselves by incorporating aspects of other forms, most prominently brass-spiked funk. During ACR's early years with Factory Records, the Top Ten of the U.K. independent singles chart included seven of their titles, highlighted by "Flight" and "Waterline," and the band issued five albums including The Graveyard and the Ballroom (1980) and Sextet (1982). Following phases with A&M and Robs Records, ACR were intermittently active. They returned on Mind Made Up (2008), before their first new music in a decade appeared on the anthology ACR:Set (2018). This was followed by ACR Loco (2020), 1982 (2023), and It All Comes Down to This (2024), alongside numerous EPs.