In 1977 John Robb and Mark Tilton formed the band at Blackpool Sixth Form College. Inspired by punk rock and the DIY ethic of punk, they started a fanzine, Rox and The Membranes at the same time. Tilton, who lived a few doors down the road from Robb, bought a 'Woolworth's special' guitar from a junk shop, while Robb built his own bass out of spare parts and a slab of wood from a local DIY store (along with dustbin lids, the band having no drummer at this stage). They then enlisted a singer Martin Critchley and Martin Kelly joined on drums. Critchley subsequently left, with Robb and Tilton taking over to share the vocals, Martin Kelly moving to keyboards with a WASP synthesiser and a 13 year old kid called Coofy Sid joining on drums. Their first recording was "Ice Age", which appeared on the Blackpool Rox EP featuring Section 25, Syntax and The Kenneth Turner Set on Robb's Vinyl Drip label.

After a flexi-disc debut, the Flexible Membrane EP in 1980, they released the debut single proper "Muscles" in 1982, which was raved over by both the music press and John Peel. That record's success saw the band sign a deal with Rondolet Records who issued a follow-up, the Pin Stripe Hype EP (the only Membranes record to feature guitarist Steve Farmery). Rondolet folded and the band signed to Criminal Damage Records.

After Steve Farmery left, the band went deeper into their new direction. Coofy Sid's drumming became more tribal and the guitars wilder and heavier.

They would have been the first band to sign to Creation Records, and the label's first release would have been "Spike Milligan’s Tape Recorder", but Alan McGee had no money for the studio so the band stayed with Criminal Damage and released this as a seven inch single, described in ZigZag (magazine) as "not only have The Membranes wiped the floor with the opposition, they redesigned the tiles". They were awarded single of the week in all four music papers, and "Spike Milligan" reached number six in the John Peel Festive 50.

In January 1985 The Membranes appeared on The Tube and released the Death To Trad Rock EP which went to number 8 in the UK Indie Chart and saw the band on the front cover of Sounds. At this point Mark Tilton left the band: he was replaced shortly after by Stan Batcow, who came in on bass with Robb moving to guitar.

The new line-up recorded the album but without the studio engineer John Brierley who had worked on their last two releases. With a rookie engineer on board, the band's resulting debut album 'The Gift of Life' didn't capture their massive sound but still came out to rave reviews and went to number one in the indie chart.

After a gig in London, a Creation Records night, the band left/were sacked from the label after an argument. The gig was booked as The Membranes headlining with The Pastels and Slaughter Joe on the bill. It was decided by someone, not the promoter, to draw lots for the billing and the lots surprisingly came out with The Membranes going on first and Slaughter Joe headlining. This meant that the bulk of the audience who had come to see The Membranes missed the band, and let their feelings be heard during Slaughter Joe's set and because Joe was Alan McGee's best friend The Membranes were off the label. The Pastels walked out in support of The Membranes.

The band then signed to In Tape, the label run by Marc Riley.

Sharing a house in West Didsbury (in the garden of which Dinosaur Jr recorded their "Freak Scene" video), The Membranes created a scene and got themselves back to their leanest and meanest since Mark Tilton left. The resulting 'Kiss Ass Godhead!' album in 1988 was far better for the constant touring. It was also one of the first records that Steve Albini recorded and the band spent time in his cellar in Chicago recording some of the tracks. They were surprised to find that Albini had all their records as well as several early copies of the Rox fanzine.