When Punk first exploded upon the nation in 1976, I was only 9 years old. So it was not until I was older that I discovered punk music. Looking back it's quite difficult to remember when exactly I took an interest in punk music. It was about 1980 and a friend of mine had a few copies of some Sex Pistols records this was when I first heard that classic "Friggin' in the Riggin'", I thought it was great (lots of swearing and rude words) as an impressionable 13 year old school boy. It was not until I was about 16 years old that I started to buy punk records.
When I was 16 I went out with a young skinhead girl whose older brother had a few Oi albums. These being by The 4 Skins, Angelic Upstarts and Oi! The Album. I had never heard this type of music before and immediately started to buy some Oi records, thinking this was what being a skinhead was all about. During my period of buying Oi records, I built up a small collection. I owned singles by, Blitz, The Violators, Red Alert, Infa-Riot, Angelic Upstarts amongst others. I also had Oi! The Album, two 4 Skins albums (The Good, The Bad and The 4 Skins, A Fistful Of 4 Skins), The live album by the Angelic Upstarts with the flexi disc, as well as a few records by other bands. One record that I did have (don't have now), that is worth a few quid now was the Orders Of The Day ep by Combat 84, who were made infamous at the time by a TV documentary back then. I don't have any of these records now having either given them away or selling them over the years. Although recently I have seen some singles by the Angelic Upstarts for sale in a record shop, that I might purchase for old times sake.
This period of interest in Oi and punk music, also led me to attending regular Friday night events at Feltham Football Club. It was here that bands such as The Toy Dolls, Riot Squad, One Way System, Dead Mans Shadow amongst others performed (can't remember other bands names, must be old age). Although I do recall one band called True Life Confessions, this band had a female singer who used to bare her breasts on stage and perform songs with the aid of a bullwhip, bananas and cream (I'll let you imagine how).
This leads me onto two local bands Dead Mans Shadow and Action Pact. Both bands came from Stanwell (also the name of an Action Pact song), so most local youths were aware of them. The first record by Dead Mans Shadow was 'Neighbours' released on Hog records. Their second release was a joint ep between DMS and Action Pact this was the Heathrow Touchdown EP. Action Pact's first solo release was the Suicide Bag ep. Dead Mans Shadow went on to record another four singles and two albums for various record labels, whereas Action Pact released all their following singles and two albums on the Fall Out label. If anyone has a copy of either of their second albums for sale, I maybe interested in purchasing them.
within my record collection I have various LP's, CD's and singles by different punk bands from the likes of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ruts and Stiff Little Fingers amongst others.
My interest in The Sex Pistols stems from when I first heard Friggin' In The Riggin'. I have only about half a dozen singles by The Sex Pistols, Pretty Vacant, god save The Queen, Holidays In The Sun amongst these and The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle LP.
I first heard The Ruts when I swapped a record with Shaun for a copy of Staring At The Rude Boys. This record had a crack all the way through the vinyl and had to be lined up to play properly, Shaun had also filled out the crossword on the cover that the record came in. I have since managed to buy another copy that isn't cracked or had the cover written on. Other singles that I have managed to get are Babylon's Burning, In A Rut and Something That I Said as well as having one album by The Ruts.
Stiff Little Fingers came to my attention whilst driving around at night in Steve Pottinger's pick-up. He had a tape of theirs playing in the car stereo which had belonged to his older brother. This led me into purchasing three LP's, Go For It!, Nobody's Heroes and Flammable Material. I would recommend Go For It! to anybody to listen to. I remember my mate Paul borrowed a Stiff Little Fingers album from the local library never to return it. Stiff Little Fingers are still performing nowadays, I believe with Bruce Foxton (ex Jam bassist) now in the line-up.