Sham 69

Sham 69 were a British punk band from Hersham, Surrey, a suburb of London. Deriving their name from a piece of graffiti that singer Jimmy Pursey had seen on a toilet wall, they were known for being the first punk band with a truly suburban style, lacking the art school background of many British punk bands of the time, and brought in football chant backup vocals and a sort of inarticulate populism in politics. The band were notoriously plagued by violence at their shows, and helped set the tone for the Oi! movement. The National Front, ignoring the fact that Sham 69 had a Jewish drummer, tried to associate themselves with the band and recruit members at their gigs. The band ceased doing live performances after one of their concerts at Middlesex Polytechnic was famously broken up by fighting NF skinheads in 1978.

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After being the first punk band with a Top 10 UK single, "Hurry Up Harry" from their second album and first full studio album, That's Life, they started to move away from punk into a sound heavily influenced by classic British hard rock such as Mott The Hoople, The Who and The Faces, on their third album, Hersham Boys. They broke up after their fourth album. Singer Jimmy Pursey moved in a heavy metal direction afterwards, and bassist Dave Tregenna joined the pioneering 1980s glam-punk-Gothic band, The Lords of the New Church with Stiv Bators from The Dead Boys and Brian James from The Damned.

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Pursey resurrected Sham 69 in the 1990s with a different lineup, without success. According to a recent episode of TOTP2 Jimmy Pursey is currently working in McDonalds.

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They gained media attention again when their song If the Kids are United was used to accompany UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's entrance prior to his speech to the 2005 Labour Party Conference. As a result of this they were invited onto Newsnight to sing a version of the song. For this performance altered lyrics were sung, including "Mr Blair / We know you care / So bring them home / Don't leave them there", referencing the sentiment felt by some about troops remaining in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

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The classic Sham 69 line-up were:

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• Jimmy Pursey: Vocals
• Dave Parsons: Guitar
• Rick Goldstein: Drums
• Dave Tregenna: Bass
Sham 69: Discography ►



 

British: The word British has several different uses. See the article on Britain for more details on the development and use of the word Britain....

Punk: Punk can have the following meanings:...

Hersham: Hersham is a village in Surrey, England between Esher and Walton-on-Thames. It has a railway station served by the Waterloo via Weybridge service....




Sham 69 related Images and Photos (experimental)

Team Marvel Heroes Pillow Sham

Team Marvel Heroes Pillow Sham