Sigue Sigue Sputnik were the ultimate soundbite specialists, spewing forth cyberpunk slogans like there was no tomorrow. But it was tomorrow that SSS had firmly in its sights, and now - poised to return to the scene like aliens revisiting the planet after an initial scouting mission - Tony James and his band of tomorrow people beg to be re-examined, especially in this post-electronica age.

One of the few instances since punk when rock and roll captured sex, danger and outrage in equal measures, the hipped-up and hyped-up appearance of Sigue Sigue Sputnik was like nothing ever seen before. With hindsight, it is easy to mock their look and their ethos, but what few seem to remember is that the Sputniks really meant it, man - they were 4 Real. Ultracamp and ultracool frontman Martin Degville was the living embodiment of sex, equal parts Presley, Rotten, Bolan and Sioux. Sputnik-meister Tony James had been in bands since he was born (most famously Generation X with Billy Idol), and Ray Mayhew treated the courtroom like a holiday timeshare villa. Then there was the associated cyberpunk sex of the Ultravixens, Yama Ya Ya, the glamour, the sleaze, the porn. In one gloriously OTT package, SSS summed up all that was important and vibrant in the world of music, blasting with gleaming chrome phallic cannons at mediocre chart fodder and bedsit indie wailings alike.

And there was the music too. Fuck all those bands that tell you music is more important than image, and that say things like "we make music for ourselves and if anyone else likes it it's a bonus". Sputnik made music to soundtrack their image and their masterplan, thrusting thieving hands into the pot of rock n roll history and emerging with a sound that mixed punk with glam, 50s rock rebellion with new wave futurism. Often criticised for being unable to sing and play and for plagiarising Suicide and T-Rex amongst others, Sputnik's music was however unlike anything ever heard. Degville's orgasmic yelps and sighs, coupled with the relentless electronic throb conjured up by James' bass and all backed with the divine sound of two drummers: all this added up to a sharp and sexy parent-offending glam racket, one that truly did represent the 5th generation of rock and roll.

Image and music combined with hype was an equation the media found too hard to resist. Following SSS around like starving wolves, the presspack hounded the band's early live shows, outwardly criticising (but inwardly masturbating over) the chaotic gigs, x-cert lyrics and "threatening" image. Naturally, SSS thrived upon this, meaning that before first single "Love Missile F1-11" was released, everyone had heard of Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

Then things went sour. By the time debut LP "Flaunt It" was released, the tabloids had moved on to a new victim and the initial shock factor of SSS had subsided somewhat. It was left to the fans, the forward-lookers and the curious to discover that with "Flaunt It", the band had created the ultimate rock n roll media product. Soundbite-laden, bursting at the seams with sci-fi riffs and a mix of styles no-one had expected ("Atari Baby" was the first love song for the computer-game generation), the LP was a triumph for the band, and one that if you dig it out now - over 10 years later - sounds surprisingly fresh and contemporary. Hell, even some of the adverts infamously included between tracks sound better than some songs released today. Pure sex, pure style...

Continuing to play the media and the industry for all they were worth, SSS progressed, collaborating with Stock Aitken and Waterman on the plastic pop sexplosion "Success" and releasing another underrated LP in the form of "Dress For Excess". Then, like a dying super-nova, Sigue Sigue Sputnik were gone, forgotten by most as the second summer of love and acid house took over. But with that glorious magnesium-bright flash of excitement, danger and sex, Sputnik had briefly made a very dull world interesting again. For that they should be thanked.

And now you have the chance. Sigue Sigue Sputnik are returning. With both a compilation LP of singles and mixes, plus new material, SSS are planning their second invasion of the music industry. Tony James, Martin Degville and others will once more be centre-stage, strutting their stuff and doing it entirely on their own terms. In the post-Prodigy climate of today's musical scene, it looks as though the world will finally be ready for them.

The future is now. Rock it.