In The Trashcan Records
GEM003
"What a great year 1979 was. The 80s were built on bands
from that year. As if punk died when Sid Vicious died..."
1979 was a crucial year in UK pop music. Punk had become mainstream. Synthesizers were about to take over the video influenced music business. Buzzcocks however remained faithful to their melodic punk sound. Pete Shelley wrote, again, a song that will last. Even now it still sounds fresh and new.
As B-side for the amazing "Get over you", this song isn't well known, even after all those years. Such a pity. It's better than 90% of the so-called punk rock songs recorded in the 90s.
"King rocker" was a hit in the UK charts for Billy Idol. This flipside features an excellent 1977 John Peel recording of a John Lennon protest song he wrote in 1969 already.
Small Wonder was a tiny indie label. You should buy every Small Wonder release, just like this "Hypocrite", written by long-haired singer/guitarist Steve Drewett. Political band, from anti-fascism like Angelic Upstarts to anarcho-syndicalism like Crass. Later they dropped Newtown to make more accessible music as The Neurotics.
Sham 69 also recorded a Lennon tune in 1979. But it's not "With a little help from my friends" that I picked here. You'll have to wait for volume 38. Here is "I gotta survive" from that same 45 that also featured the splendid "Questions and answers". It's Sham 69 and it sounds exactly like that. Even if you don't know the song, you'll know who this is. Perhaps it's a little less punky and little more poppy, but hey, it's 1979 and punk was dead already to most of us.
Here are The Dickies again. The flipside of "Banana splits", a yellow vinyl release on A&M, is a fabulous fast punk rock tune. See volume 2 for more Dickies info.
As flipside to "Straw dogs" this still is one of the best SLF songs ever. Fifteen years later you'll hear exactly the same sound with bands such as Green Day, who earned millions by exploiting the 1979 sound of bands like Stiff Little Fingers from Belfast, where they started as a (hard) rock band called Highway Star, yes the Deep Purple song.
The band that gave us "Where have all the boots boys gone", are here with another punk tune, which has nothing to do with the Del Shannon song. Released on the London based label DJM Records.
"Offshore banking business" is a fantastic reggae influenced song, but it's this punky flipside that charmed me. A different version was recorded in 1978 for Stiff, their first release. Re-recorded under the production of Steve Lillywhite and issued a year later for Virgin Records. Oh, the drummer is Steve's brother Adrian.
There are two versions of "Sid did it" on this 45; a radio version and an intelligible version, the one I prefer. It's a punk rock tune about Sid Vicious killing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen a few months earlier. It's obvious they were no big Sid fans. A couple of years later The Exploited were singing "Sid Vicious was innocent". At the end of the song you hear a complaining Nancy Spungen backed by a church organ.
The Ruts' best song? "In a rut"! On the flipside there's this violently uptempo anti-heroin "H-eyes". Released on the People Unite label, a record label for anti-racist bands. They lived in a commune when they discovered the SexPistols. A couple of months after this John Peel fave, they recorded a smash hit single with "Babylon's burning".
No need for a Crass introduction. It's the only early punk band that lived up to their ideals, even before they were called punk. Because the blasphemous A-side "Reality asylum" couldn't be pressed, the band decided to start their own record label in 1977. DIY? Crass really did it! From "Screaming babies, shaved women, collaborators" to "In all our decadence people die" the accusation goes on.
Recorded in 1978, but released in 1979 "Bombers" is one of Tubeway Army's finest efforts, their second single for Beggars Banquet and at the end of 1979 re-released as a double single with "That's too bad". Gary Webb was then known as Valeriun, before becoming famous as Gary Numan. Before Tubeway Army he fronted Mean Street (see compilation Live At The Vortex) and The Lasers.
East London punk band, loved by West Ham supporters, started in 1977 with "Flares 'n' slippers", which was released in 1979 on Small Wonder. This is their second release, on a major label. As inventors of Oi!-punk and leaders of the street punk movement they were often labeled far right extremists, which isn't true. Stinky Turner aka Jeff Geggus and his brother Mick Geggus were the only two who survived the various line-ups. One day they dropped Cockney from their name and then sounded more like third rate hard rock.
"Docter" instead of "Doctor", yes this is Belgian punk rock from their probably sole release. I was so surprised that this hasn't been compiled yet on the numerous punk compilations.
Early Adam & The Ants will always be one of the best bands from the UK in 1979. Never mind what Adam Ant did after his band left and formed Bow Wow Wow. "Zerox" is an excellent postpunk tune, released on the small Do It Records label.
