After engineering "Laughing Stock", Phill Brown said "there was divorce, breakdown. It was intense. I have never worked on more focussed sessions though. And no – I wouldn't work in the dark again. It was difficult getting back to 'normal' sessions." However, compared to prior Talk Talk albums, he goes on to note that ""Laughing Stock" is a different beast. I am very proud of the album, it's probably one of my best projects, but I find it dark and claustrophobic." "Laughing Stock" was the last release in the band's career, as Talk Talk silently disbanded in 1992, as Hollis wished to focus on his family. Paul Webb rejoined Lee Harris, and the two went on to form the band .O.rang, who recorded several albums in the 1990s, while Tim Friese-Greene started recording under the name Heligoland. Mark Hollis effectively left the music industry, but in 1998 released his unexpected self-titled solo début "Mark Hollis", which was much in keeping with the post-rock sound of "Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock", finding inspiration not in the popular music of the day, but rather in 20th-century classical music and jazz from the late fifties and sixties, but he officially retired from the music industry shortly afterwards.