'Better Scream' was the debut 7" single released by the first band incarnation of Pete Wylie, Wah! Heat

Pete Wylie

-Studio albums:- Extended Plays :-Singles:-External links:***...

 after being member of the short-lived The Crucial Three

Crucial Three

The Crucial Three were a short-lived band that existed for approximately six weeks in early 1977. They nevertheless achieved notoriety on account of the individual success of all three founding members: Julian Cope formed The Teardrop Explodes and has enjoyed a long and successful solo career as...

 and The Mystery Girls. It was also Pete Wylie's second serious project (the first being the heavily-funded but short-lived Liverpool super group English Opium Eaters with future Lightning Seeds

Lightning Seeds

The Lightning Seeds are an English alternative rock and pop band from Liverpool, England formed in 1989 by Ian Broudie , formerly of the Big in Japan band....

 leader Ian Broudie

Ian Broudie

Ian Broudie is a British singer-songwriter, musician and record producer from Liverpool, England. After emerging from the post punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to form the short-lived groups Original Mirrors and Care in the early 1980s as well...

, future Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...

 dancer Paul Rutherford

Paul Rutherford

Paul Rutherford is the former backing vocalist, dancer and occasional keyboardist with 1980s pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood , one of the group's two openly gay singers....

 on lead vocals, and future Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie

Budgie

Budgie has several meanings:* Budgerigar, a small parrot native to Australia* Budgie , a rock band** Budgie , the self-titled debut album of the above band* Budgie , a 1971 British TV drama starring Adam Faith...

). When the English Opium Eaters collapsed due to musical differences, Wah! Heat

Pete Wylie

-Studio albums:- Extended Plays :-Singles:-External links:***...

 was formed in late 1979. The original band consisted during this time of Pete Wylie on Vocals and Guitars, Rob Jones on drums and former Those Naughty Lumps' bassist Pete Younger on bass.
The single first appeared in March 1980, and was released and reviewed the same week as Wylie's former colleague Julian Cope

Julian Cope

Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...

 released his third single 'Treason' with The Teardrop Explodes

The Teardrop Explodes

The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman...

. ""Better Scream"" received critical acclaim by the British press and magazines like Sounds and the NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

. John Peel

John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

also noticed the band, and was so impressed by their 7" debut that he invited them to record their first Peel Session in the late Spring 1980 .