LIVING IN A BOX – Scales of Justice (live) | Countdown (1987)

Living in a Box are a British band founded in 1985. The group’s 1987 eponymous debut single reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart and was a top-20 hit in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100. Their 1989 single “Room in Your Heart” reached No. 5 in the UK. The group, which formerly included vocalist Richard Darbyshire, currently consists of founding members Anthony “Tich” Critchlow (drums) and Marcus Vere (keyboards, synthesizers) along with new vocalist Bryan Chambers.

Living in a Box were formed in 1985 in Sheffield. The group named themselves after the first song they had recorded together in the studio. Vere and Critchlow were recording the demo version of the tune in a studio also being visited by Richard Darbyshire, an independent recording artist at the time. Darbyshire was invited to join his two future bandmates in the studio to record vocals for the track, and the three officially became a band.

Released two years later, “Living in a Box” was their most commercially successful single, peaking at #5 on the UK Singles Chart and became the band’s only single to chart in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The single was featured on the group’s self-titled debut album, which also included follow-up singles “Love is the Art”, “So the Story Goes”, and “Scales of Justice”. While “So the Story Goes” was the only one of these additional singles to reach the US Billboard Hot 100, all three songs charted in their home country.

Their follow-up album, Gatecrashing in 1989 proved to be even more successful in the UK, generating two top-10 hits, “Blow the House Down” (which featured Queen’s Brian May on guitar) and “Room in Your Heart”. The album itself peaked at #21. Artistic differences, as well as changes to their record label Chrysalis, caused the band to break up in 1990 before a third album could be released.