After the pioneer industrial rock combo Throbbing Gristle broke up in 1981, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (b. Christine Newby) decided to keep working together. Working under the names Chris and Cosey and CTI (Creative Technology Institute), the duo expanded the dense rhythmic ideas of their former band, adding more accessible synthesized pop elements as their career progressed.

Under the CTI moniker, the duo released their first album, Heartbeat, on Rough Trade in 1981; the following year the duo released Trance. Rough Trade and Chris and Cosey got in a fight over the retail price of Trance, beginning a series of disputes that culminated with the band leaving the label in 1985; they signed with Nettwerk productions in North America and Play It Again Sam in Europe. At the beginning of the '90s, the duo switched to the seminal industrial label Wax Trax! ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi