 In 1993, Buzzcocks released "Trade Test Transmissions", their first album since reuniting in 1989 and a return to the band's original pop punk sound and a departure from the experimental music Shelly and Diggle had recorded away from the Buzzcocks.Although it was a critical success, it was not a commercial one despite the huge surge in popularity for pop punk at the same time, They followed it with "All Set" (1996), another critical success which saw the band experiment "here and there" on the album with atypical instruments and arrangements.Ned Raggett of Allmusic described the experiments as "hints of trying to breathe once again beyond the basic formula."