Sham 69
That's Life

THE REVIEW

On these pages, everything is discussed, but nobody gives a damn about Oi! You might say: elementary music, trivial, vulgar and rough. And so what? Haven't you perhaps reviewed the nonsense published by Ilona Staller and Pupo? So, without knowing how to read or write, allow me to talk about this group.

It's a primordial form of Oi! that characterizes Sham 69, still bastardized with the punk of the bourgeois kids who hung out (and still hang out) in Art Institutes, kept by their dear, wealthy parents. Young London proletarians, Sham, full of rage and dreams. Young people who wanted to kick the fake rebels of the middle class, from whom they nonetheless drew inspiration.

Everyone says that Sham 69 was a "Skinhead" group. It's not true. Their style includes reminiscences of the mod (or hard mod) look and the "herbert" look. However, they were praised and revered by the entire skin movement (whether it be right, left, or apolitical).

English lads, football and beer lovers, zero intellectual pretenses and a great desire for rebellion in punk rock style. Sham 69's anthems spoke of everyday reality and social issues. However, having not taken a clear and militant political position, they were indeed elected "idols" by the neo-fascist right. The group dissolved and reunited several times, due to the continuous brawls caused by the National Front militants at their concerts.

To put an end to this cumbersome and annoying presence (partly generated by some ambiguous statements by Pursey), the band decided to embrace the anti-racism cause and write an universalist anthem: "If The Kids Are United". But here we are getting a bit too far ahead.

In 1978 they released the second: "That's Life". It's life.

And life is a bad rock 'n' roll, that hurts, born from the instrumentation of kids with few pennies in their pockets (yet produced, no less, by John Cale). But, despite the apparent banality, "That's Life" is hard to forget.

The initial screams of "Leave Me Alone" hit us in the face, after about fifty seconds, with all their fury. "Who Give A Damn" is telling both in title and in music. Beautiful, or rather: engaging, are also "Hurry Up Harry", with its infectious chorus, the epic "Angels With Dirty Faces", and "Sunday Morning Nightmare".

Who lived through that season beyond names like Pistols and Clash?