Good Oi! and Street Punk bands?

Chernobyl babies, the devotchkas, the discocks, expose, you probably like the casualties? you should check out the virus. lots of bands that don't look it are street punk as well. you should look into dbeat if youre a street punk, but if you look just right then bands you didn't know can be really punk as well. like discharge.

 

i myself am starting to enjoy street punk a lot more

 

Haha, you will not find many people who like Casualties here

 

ss kaliert, pestpocken, hangover generation, clit 45, career soldiers, blatoidea, the skeptix are all good bands

 

You should check out NOi!SE from america fantastic band.

 

Noi!se might illicit some ill feelings here as the singer is enlisted military personnel.

Street punk is great stuff. Love it myself. I'd check out Wednesday Night Heroes, The Agrestix, Starving Wolves, Combat Crisis, Lower Class Brats, Krum Bums, The Unseen, One Way System, A Global Threat...

I could go on for days. Like Sti said, check out D-beat bands as well. Wolfbrigade is one of my favourites, and Disfear also ranks pretty top notch with me.

 

Right on! Krum Bums, especially The Sound. You will have to track down the V.A. comp.
Punx Unite _Leaders of Today, their hands down best version of cease fire, (track 12). Trust
me, it will be well worth your efforts. aint ashamed

 

I like The Casualties, although I consider them in many ways to be a U.S. version of The Exploited, but with more of a political bent.

Very cliche, and predictable, almost coming across as cartoonish, but any band that will put out an album in both Spanish and English has earned my respect.

Mind you, I don't know if all the shit I've heard about Jorge over the years is true, but for now, until anybody can show me any solid evidence of the allegations made against him, I'll still play them.

 

I'm probably old enough to be your father, so my tastes really go back to what used to be called "Old School" but I'll give you some tips on bands that I like......
For "D-Beat" style punk, it all begins and ends with DISCHARGE. I would describe their early stuff as Crass meets Motorhead, but that might come across as too simplistic. They are fast and furious, and most of their songs are very simplistic lyricwise, which, in many cases has been cause for criticism. While the lyrics get the point across, it can sometimes come across as "Sloganeering" but still important. I should warn you that in the mid 80s, in an attempt to broaden their appeal to a wider audience, and try a new sound they DID put out a musically cliche ridden heavy metal album called Grave New World. If you like heavy metal in the style of Iron Maiden, Guns n Roses et al, you might like this album, but most die hard Discharge fans hate it. (I think it's actually good for that style of music and was a good attempt, but I'm speaking strictly as a musician) After that disaster, they broke up for a while but reformed in the mid 90s and basically learned from their mistakes and went back to their old sound. Try to find an early singles collection, and the album Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing, as their early stuff (Pre 1985) is their best in my opinion.

And then there's The Subhumans (U.K. NOT to be confused with the Canadian band with the same name) They are often described as "Anarcho-Punk" but don't sound like most of the anarcho-punk bands. They have a unique sound all their own. I LOVE 'em.

(Charged) G.B.H. are in some ways cut from the same clothe as Discharge, but not as politically oriented, and definitely having more of a Motorhead feel to them, especially the early singles and first two albums. Check out the first three albums, and any "Clay Records" singles compilation you can find, that's their best stuff.

U.K. Subs were one of the founding bands of the "Street Punk" sound and have been at it for over 40 years. The lead singer, Charlie Harper is an old geezer in his 70s, and it still amazes me that he still goes out on tour. All of The U.K. Subs' albums have been released in alphabetical order. They are, in many ways, the blueprint of old school street punk. I would try to track down any singles compilation ranging from 1978-1984, and the first four studio albums. Also be sure to check out The Urban Dogs, which was a short lived project of the lead singer, Charlie Harper.

Corrupted Ideals are a band from Long Beach, California which were around from 1988-1995, but I believe reunited in 2013. Although I don't think they would consider themselves an "Oi!" band per se, they definitely have an Oi! sound to them, as far as I'm concerned, sounding a lot like early Sham 69 and Angelic Upstarts, to these old, and tired ears. Best of all is their politics seem to lean towards the left of center, which is refreshing when you consider that a lot of Oi! can come across as conservative, if not outright right wing. Their first three e.p.s have been compiled into one full album, the title I forget the name of right now, but the e.p.s were (1) Anti-Trend (2) Anti-Faction (3) Anti-System.

Cocksparrer are the grandaddy of all Oi! and Street Punk (Both figuratively AND literally) they started out in 1972 originally as Janus, and then in 1974 changed their name to Cock Sparrow, and then, as a tribute to where they came from changed it permanently to Cock Sparrer. On first listen they don't really sound like a punk or an Oi! band at all, because they tend to pay tribute to the bands that originally inspired them to start a band in the first place. They carry on the musical tradition of "Spirit of 69" skinhead music and take their cues from early 70s British Glam (Or Glitter) and British Bubble Gum rock. Listen closely and you'll hear strains of The Sweet, Slade, Suzi Quatro, (Although she's from The U.S., the Brits still loved her) Rod Stewart era Faces, and even Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie, early Queen, with a touch of T-Rex and Bay City Rollers. Even older than the U.K. Subs, this is a good band worth checking out. (I should add there are some who are weary of them because of the song England Belongs to Me, as that could be seen as a form of blind patriotism, but there is no hint of racism or xenophobia in the lyrics, just working class people being proud of the place they came from)

Jenny Woo is, in my opinion a ground breaking pioneer in the world of Oi!. All the breaks were, and in many ways, still are against her. First of all, she's a woman, and trying to be taken seriously as an Oi!/Street Punk Musician in a mostly male dominated music scene is in and of itself an uphill battle, and she (Gasps) plays ACOUSTIC GUITAR!

She started out in 2008 in Alberta, Canada. (I think Edmonton, but I'm not quite remembering) at first people thought of her as a joke or novelty act, but if you sit down and listen, you'll see/hear that she's dead serious. She put out a five song demo which was all acoustic, but even so, you can most definitely hear the Oi! in her music. I even wrote her once and told her that I could easily transfer these songs to an electric guitar with ease and that she should carry on. She still plays an acoustic guitar, but now has also switched to electric guitar as well. Although she claims to avoid politics in general, she's is outspokenly anti racist, and, although I'm not recalling any songs that address the issue she is also anti-sexist/pro-feminist. While she considers herself a "Trad Skinbyrd" she says that if she had to choose which faction of skinheads to align herself with it would most likely be the S*H*A*R*P*/R*A*S*H* faction since they were the ones who originally accepted her with open arms. More women should pick up guitars, front Oi! bands, and show the boys exactly how it's done, and if they can't/don't show the boys how it's done, then at least it's refreshing to hear this kind of music from a woman's perspective.

Have a start with those, and hopefully more people will pass on their recommendations/favorites to you.

 

Before I sign off, here are some compilations you might want to check out to get your feet wet..

Punk and Disorderly 1-3 (DON'T be put off by the front cover of Punk and Disorderly #3. If you examine the artwork closely they are making a statement AGAINST fascism, and songs like Let's kick Out The Tories drive this point home)
These compilations contain the best of early streetpunk and are a great place to start.

As far as Oi! goes......
Oi! The Album
Strength Thru Oi!
Carry On, Oi!
Oi! Oi! That's Yer Lot
Son of Oi!

Some people have mistakenly assumed that Oi! was right wing music, and that Strength Thru Oi! promoted a right wing/ fascist agenda, although nothing could be further from the truth, as far as I'm concerned. The reason people believed this, and still believe it is because (A) "Strength Through Joy" was the slogan for The Hitler Youth group (Jugendvolk) and (B) the person on the front cover was a well known racist skinhead named Nicky Crane. Because of these two facts, the album was immediately pulled out of the stores and became a collector's item. It's a shame because there are no hints of racism/fascism in the lyrics of any of the songs, and the music is quite good, plus quite a few bands want NOTHING to do with right wing politics at all. Interesting enough, even though for many years Nicky Crane was known as a right wing skinhead, a member of Britain's national Front, and even part of Skrewdriver's security detail, he was actually gay, died of A.I.D.S. and came out of the closet on his death bed.

If you're looking to get your feet wet with Oi! these five compilations are a good place to start. My personal favorite, next to Strength Thru Oi! would be Son of Oi! which is the one compilation where the politics lean towards the left of center, and is outspokenly ANTI-RACIST.

ONE LAST RECOMMENDATION.......

The Mau Maus: There were TWO bands with this name, but I'm going to focus on the one from England. (Sheffield to be exact)

Upon casual listening, they have a typical meat and potatoes street punk sound to them, but at the time this band proved that you DIDN'T have to be from London to form a good punk band and play some great music.

They were around from 1980-1985 and put out a five or six singles, a live album, and a studio album called Fear No Evil. All the singles have been gathered together on a singles compilation. I believe they have reformed in recent years, and have played Rebellion Fest in Blackpool on more than one occasion. One of my favorite Street Punk Bands that is not well know except by die hard fans like myself who go wherever the sound takes them. Definitely track down everything you can by this band. You won't be sorry.

 

With all due respect, one song...UNKNOWN SOLDIER...says hey, let's take a closer look here. I think maybe these guys are deserving of our respect and affections. Brothers in or out? I say in!
aint ashamed

 

The Casualties are known as a political band? Maybe I am just out of it but the stuff I heard from them was more of the apathetic, goofy shit like "Punk Rock Love" and songs about being proud to be a punk. I had a couple of records but sold them in a box full of stuff I didn't like or care to listen to again. This was before people came out and accused the singer of attempted rape or assault.

I used to joke that The Casualties were like The Exploited, but if The Exploited were stupid. It was an inside joke because of the whole accusations and innuendos from MaximumRockNRoll and the like years back towards Wattie and The Exploited's early material (where they had songs of beating people up and about sex and violence). Their later stuff was always heavily political, though. But the comparisons (through their look of colored mohawks and leather jackets) should end there since The Exploited did it a full decade earlier than The Casualties.

 

You might want to check out the lyrics from the album On The Front Line, which has quite a few politically oriented songs on them. (It's the only Casualties album I own, and my copy is the Spanish version) Bands like Resilience and Chernobyl Babies are more into that "Punk Rock Love" stuff. As far as early Exploited goes, the only song that I can recall off the top of my head is "Sex and Violence" where they just repeat that over and over again. I never liked "Fuck The Mods" since I happen to have had a few friends who were Mods, and I like a bit of power pop every now and again. (The Jam, The Chords, Purple Hearts, pre Tommy Who to name a few) But even The Exploited on their first two albums had a few songs that had social commentary, especially about police violence, and even a song about how fucked up the U.S. was as seen from the eyes from a Scotsman. Yes, Let's Start A War was when they really got seriously political. It doesn't really matter about the time line, or who did what first, I still stand by my comparisons between The Exploited and The Casualties. Plus, not to speak ill of the dead, Tim Yohannon was an old crank with his own agenda, and took everything Crass said seriously without doing a bit of research on weather any of it was true. not all punk has to be serious and political all the time, but it shouldn't also be just mindless stupidity either, especial toxic masculinity. Of course, that being said, I can see your point about not wanting to listen to them again. As much as I like them, there really are bands who do that style of street punk a bit better, and don't have to look like they walked off the front cover of a Punk and Disorderly comp.

 

Gimp Fist

 

The Business

 

AWESOME! Thanks Much! I think I'll take on a Crass purification project,
comparing this offering, with my current collection. Separate the wheat from
the chaff. aint ashamed

 

R.I.P. Micky Fitz

 

ROCK ON!