Artist: Sham 69 Genre(s):
Rock: Punk-Rock
Discography:
Punk Rock Fiction Presents Year: 1997
Tracks: 2
Kings and Queens Year: 1995
Tracks: 10
Volunteer Year: 1988
Tracks: 10
That's Life Year: 1979
Tracks: 12
Adventures Of The Hersham Boys Year: 1979
Tracks: 12
Tell Us The Truth Year: 1978
Tracks: 14
While most of the early British punk bands rung of wage-earning concerns -- primarily unemployment and the shrinking U.K. economy, which was departure a generation with null to do and nowhere to go -- many of the pioneering groups had working-class credential that were distrust at topper; the Sex Pistols' career was organism shaped by a clothier and would-be artist, patch the Clash were light-emitting diode by the logos of a diplomat. Sham 69, however, was different; proletarian and proud of it, Sham 69 was the voice of the citizenry in the low gear wave of British punk, and if they were never as fashionable as such generation as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Wire, or the Jam (wHO, in their early years, shared Sham's provincial outlook and "we're with the kids" fan solidarity), they enjoyed a long run of chart successes and were a major influence on the street punk and Oi! movements which followed.
Sham 69 was formed in the blue-collar community of Hersham (in Surrey) in 1975 by isaac M. Singer and lyricist Jimmy Pursey; the identify came from an ancient bit of graffiti celebrating a local football team's taking season in 1969. From the start, Sham 69's political sympathies were democrat, and their sound accessible; straight-ahead foursquare strong-armer with a knockout rock influence and lyrics that often used singsong slogans in their choruses, such as "If the Kids Are United" and "(Gonna Be A) Borstal Breakout." The striation went through a revolving mold of musicians early on before subsiding on the lineup of Pursey, Dave Parsons on guitar, Albie Slider on bass, and Mark Cain behind the drums. They began scaring up gigs where they could, and began playing the infamous London punk venue the Roxy on a regular groundwork, where they reinforced up a loyal undermentioned. Step Forward, a small independent label, released the band's number one single, "I Don't Wanna," in September 1977. The success of the single and the band's growing fan radix prompted Polydor to sign the band in the U.K., and their first-class honours degree album,
Evidence Us the Truth -- one side recorded resilient, the other in the studio -- was released in early 1978. (Sire released the album in the United States, and it would establish to be the entirely Sham 69 record album released in America until the late '80s.) By the metre the album came out, Albie Slider had leftfield the band and Dave "Kermit" Tregenna took over on sea bass. Sham's second album,
That's Life, was released in the come down of 1978, and featured deuce major attain singles, "Haste Up Harry" and "Angels With Dirty Faces"; and as many of the number one wave of U.K. punk bands were start to simon Peter out, Sham 69's popularity continued to produce.
However, thither was a fly in the ointment for Sham 69; the band's roughneck, singalong attitude began attracting a violent and indiscriminating audience, and fighting became increasing vernacular at the band's live shows. The radical besides found their gigs were decent recruiting grounds for Britain 's utmost right (and racist) political company, the National Front; patch Pursey a great deal spoke out against the NF, for some reason it was an association that wouldn't go away. While the group's third album,
The Adventures of the Hersham Boys, was a commercial success (as were the singles "If The Kids Are United" and "You're A Better Man Than I"), the increasing fury at concerts made it harder to circuit, and Pursey began producing other bands and investigation new musical directions.
(Drummer Mark Cain also fall by the wayside the band, with Ricky Goldstein taking all over on percussion.) After the group's fourth album, The Game, received a tepid reception from both reviewers and fans, Pursey opted to split up Sham 69 in mid-1980. Pursey went on to a solo career, briefly operative with former Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, patch Dave Parsons and Dave Tregenna formed a transitory band called the Wanderers with former Dead Boys vocaliser Stiv Bators. After "the Sham Pistols" failed to play knocked out, Pursey recorded a serial of ambitious only commercially stillborn solo albums, and Tregenna linked the Lords of the New Church. In 1987, Pursey and Parsons assembled a new edition of Sham 69; Pursey continues to term of enlistment and record with Sham 69, while likewise pursuing an performing life history and transcription solo material.
