Their single "Cowpunk Medlum" (a medley of the theme song of the Western film High Noon and the TV series Bonanza) reached No. 69 in June 1981, but after this, Deram terminated the band's recording contract. Splodge got back into the studio - having lost the rest of his band in 1980 - with help from the Heavy Metal Kids, whose lead singer and guitarist Gary Holton was a friend of Splodge and sometime member of Splodgenessabounds.
The group often made humorously grandiose press release claims, such as that their debut album would be a triple, including a side of "old material transcribed from their own cassettes, coupled with their 'Pathetic Movements Manifesto', and including a free Christmas tree with every copy." Police were frequenting their concerts, due to unsubstantiated reports of public nudity and "farting on demand" during renditions of "Michael Booth's Talking Bum", and "Blown Away Like a Fart in a Thunderstorm", during which "Max gets a blowjob onstage from his female singing partner". Splodgenessabounds' stage show sometimes went to carnivalesque extremes. These included leaving Splodge stranded on top of a set of speakers for an entire set supporting themselves when the support band failed to show by playing the wrong instruments badly at deafening volume levels and a stunt where Splodge was rumoured to be held in Maidstone Prison and came on stage handcuffed to a prison officer.
In the band's early days, they were noted for playing pranks. Their eponymous debut album (released in January 1981 when the band was on hiatus) failed to chart. The band then performed on Top of the Pops, but the single only reached No. 26 in September 1980. It was another triple A-side, with "Horse" and "The Butterfly Song". The follow-up to "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please" was a cover version of " Two Little Boys" (a live version that appeared in the soundtrack to the 1981 film, Urgh! A Music War). The song peaked at No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1980, however the band members were unable to capitalise on their success by appearing on Top of the Pops, because the show was off the air due to strike action at the BBC Television. "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please" was the only song from that release that picked up any airplay, first from John Peel on his BBC Radio 1 show, and later on daytime radio as a novelty song.
The song was released as a triple A side vinyl single, along with "Simon Templer" (a pastiche of the theme tune of the TV series, Return of the Saint featuring the character Simon Templar) and "Michael Booth's Talking Bum". The band's first release for Deram in 1980 was "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please".
The band won a recording contract with Deram Records after finishing runner-up in the 1979 Battle Of The Bands contest, even though Deram was planning to cease all activities in the music markets outside of classical music. The band were originally fronted by Max Splodge and his girlfriend of the time, who was known as Baby Greensleeves. The band was formed over a cab office called Baron Cars in Queens Road, Peckham.