The singer John Graham Pettigrew, lead guitarist Ernest Rea and drummer William Hugh Alexander Brown from Scotland, along with bassist Peter Grant Nagle from Canada, formed a band in Glasgow in 1968, naming themselves after the first track „N.S.U.“ on Cream’s debut LP. Musically, however, the similarities were far less pronounced. The quartet played a heavy, dark, psychedelic blues rock and hard rock with impressive guitar work and occasional female backing vocals. They recorded their first and only LP, produced by Trevor Walters with Barry Ainsworth as sound engineer, in just three days from 24 to 26 February 1969 at De Lane Lea Studios in London.

In the same year, their debut album Turn On, Or Turn Me Down was released in a small limited edition of just 500 copies on the legendary, short-lived independent label Stable Records in the UK. A year later, it was published exclusively in Germany. Like the other obscure bands on that label, such as Sam Gopal, Jaklin and The Deviants, N.S.U. fared no better. Due to inadequate distribution and a lack of promotion, their debut album went completely unnoticed and failed to sell, despite a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. As a result of this setback, the group split up shortly afterwards. Today, the original UK release is a sought-after and expensive collector’s item.