Sham 69

John, from the Oi Band Vicious Rumours used to post on the old TalkPunk, a top bloke, they... like Peter & The Test Tube Babies were/are one of the more light hearted bands.
But i know he would despair at the violence they used to encounter. In the modern age, the Skinheads seem to have 'grown up' a bit.

Alot of the Oi era Skinheads i would encounter back in the early 80s were bullies and cowards.
Bullies, in that they would hunt in packs and pick on someone smaller than them
Cowards, in that when the tables were turned, they were chickenshit.

We have discussed Sham 69 in detail on another thread? i think despite Jimmy Pursey being a bit of a knob at times with occasional 'Delusions of Grandeur'
Sham made some great records and Dave Parsons is a very underrated songwriter and guitarist.
There are some particularly good songs on their last two albums for Polydor before they split up.





P.S. ...and here is the 'other' Sham 69 thread.

TALKPUNK.FREEFORUMS.NET/THREAD/287/SHAM-69

I've found the Luke Haines article...

As rock’n’roll counties go, Surrey is underrated. This is due to the perception that God’s Own County is entirely populated by stockbrokers, who when they are not playing cricket on the village green, are hothousing their daughter Jemima to become the area gymkhana champion. The people who hold such views have probably never set foot in the wild-lands of Guildford or Woking, let alone the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Walton or Hersham. Surrey’s lame musical reputation is unfair – its rock’n’roll-call is impressive: The Jam, The Stranglers, Nick Lowe, Eric Clapton, Genesis (when they were weird); Roger Waters (before he was rubbish) (quiet at the back); not to mention your favourite RC columnist; and the joker in the pack, Sham 69.

At this last mention you may think I have blown my argument, but hold your fire, for I have been to the mountain, and I come back with truth. The truth of St James Pursey.

Let us, for the sake of argument, take Evil Malcolm McLaren’s account of Ye Ancient Punk Rock as gospel. That is, the version put forward in Paul Gorman’s recent The Life And Times Of Malcolm McLaren biography: that Malcolm The Artist assembled the Pistols as his “malleable living sculpture”, borrowing a bit of the New York Dolls and Richard Hell, inventing punk along the way and chucking a slew of Situationist ideas into Malcy’s bespoke playpen. These four Dickensian urchin-puppets would need an authentic working-class running mate. Step forward, The Clash.

The problem was that The Clash were part of the same art school cabal, manager Bernie Rhodes was one of Malcolm’s gang, and Mick Jones and Paul Simonon had – quelle horreur – been art students. This would never do. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Jimmy Pursey of Hersham, your country needs you.

Sham 69 began their traumatic existence as early as 1975, first as Jimmy And The Ferrets and then late in the year as the Sham 69 we have come to know and love. First single I Don’t Wanna (November ’77) was unpromising – a workmanlike plod of cartoon punk rock thickery. But as The Wasps knowingly warned the warring factions on their ace single Can’t Wait ’Til ’78, 1978 would be upon us all soon, and with it, Sham’s first classic, Borstal Breakout.

In 70s Britain there was one word that could put fear in all kids: borstal. Borstal was the stuff of nightmares. Just as Bedlam had haunted the dreams of the children of the 16th century, borstal was a place of brutal Clockwork Orange inmates, SS-type wardens, and X-certificate films that we hadn’t seen, but we knew were “really bad”. I can still feel the shudder as my 11-year-old self pondered the horror of what would happen if there was an actual borstal breakout.

1978 was Sham’s annus horribilis and mirabilis at once. There were two great hit anthems: If The Kids Are United and Angels With Dirty Faces. Then there was the Reading Festival triumph/debacle as Sham 69 headlined on the Friday night. It was billed as the year that punk took over, and it did, as 15,000 kids went on a binge of thuggery as Sham played a blistering Borstal Breakout. Punks versus skins versus longhairs versus bikers. It was the kind of mass violence that Malcolm McLaren would have theoretically loved. In reality, the fighting left the sensitive Pursey frustrated and in tears. Sham at Reading ’78 is up on YouTube. It is emotional.

That’s Life, Sham’s second album and second in a year, hit the shops in November ’78. It also contained perhaps their defining single, a great celebration of the British ale house, Hurry Up Harry. For the generation before me, Bowie putting his arm around Mick Ronson on TOTP was their epiphany. For me, Jimmy Pursey jumping on top of a piano leering into the camera, “Oo’s on Top Of The Pops, then, mum?” was mine.

What little has been written about That’s Life is generally condescending. It is dismissed as a misfire from a joke band. It’s actually a brave and sometimes brilliant LP, the only real punk concept album. The story of a “working-class” bloke who gets sacked, has a bet on the gee-gees, wins some money and goes on a bender. That’s it, and that is all you need – how many concept albums of the 70s can you name that fulfil their, er, concept? Listening to That’s Life in the 90s, you could dismiss it as a one-of-its-kind oddity, but now that The Streets and Sleaford Mods are mainstream, Sham’s That’s Life, with its between-song spoken interludes, sounds way ahead of the game.

The decline of Sham is more expansively documented than their records. Their unwanted right-wing following got too much for Pursey and the band split in 1980 (before inevitably reforming). One of Pursey’s last mainstream acts was to appear on the Riverside TV show, having reinvented himself, disastrously, as an interpretive dancer. A brave move from Jim, but not a good one.

Maybe the Sham reappraisal could happen. Recently, Jarvis Cocker covered If The Kids Are United, so perhaps a reissue of That’s Life is due. (It has been out of print for years and even CD reissues command a high price). I just hope we can banish from our minds that Riverside performance.

SOURCE: recordcollectormag.com/articles/luke-haines-29

There must be others but none spring to mind Stu

Back to Sham, I had a listen to That's Life earlier on Spotify. It's okay. Quite ambitious but also vaguely ridiculous. It's certainly not Quodrophenia.

Thanks Andy.

I knew a lot of it was very familiar despite me never owning the record, or knowing anyone who had it. I now realise I watched that documentary when it was first shown.

A bit naive of Sham with George Davis, though innocent of the current charge he would later be sent down for two further armed robbery offences, he was a bit of a wrong un and not a folk hero. The song title then changed to The Cockney Kids Are Innocent.

The only other punk prisoner song I can think of is Number 7 by Some Chicken but that's about Rudolf Hess in Spandau. Whether the band is calling for his release is a moot point though a couple of the members next band The Chimneys were a very right wing band with some dodgy hangers on.

That's a terrible song🤣

Who is this Luke Haines character?

For me as a youngster, you kinda stick with the first things you hear.

I thought'I Don't Wanna'was a decent Pistolian stab(no pun intended) at punk before the 'street punk'caricature set in.

It's all very innocent and I still agree with the lyrics 40 odd years later!

'Angel with Dirty Faces' too. Alright, all the Cockney street urchin stuff was probably a product of its time but I thought it was a good song although rarely listen to it now.