they get made once and awhile
Skrewdriver
Daniel Kelly
Noah Butler
I mean when you say something like "working class trash t b h" what the fuck are you even doing in a thread about punk music.
Luis Johnson
Genuine not bait question: How do RAC Oi! lads feel about the fact that the genre was pioneered and named after a song by a bunch of Jewish lads? I'm not saying it's hypocrisy or anything, I'm just curious.
Jose Carter
Depends. Do you just want to pick the cream of the crop of each respective scene or do you want to travel through time and experience the original British RAC and then branch out from there?
In the past, I would just flit through from band to band, but going in deep and experience all the different bands chronologically turned out to be just as much fun. To me, it's fun witnessing the bands, which generally started out as just wanting to entertain a patriotic British crowd, gradually start drifting towards Nazism. It's like watching a slow descent into madness.
For those unaware, Rock Against Communism was first coined in the late '70s by Young National Front (YNF) organizers in Leeds, UK, hoping to counter the successful efforts of left-wing organizers who launched Rock Against Racism (RAR), with the goal of co-opting Punk to energize the youth. YNF operated a short-lived club called Punk Front, which featured several live-only bands that quietly broke up towards the end of the '70s. The idea for RAC lay moribund, but then came the Skinheads.
Contrary to popular belief, Skrewdriver wasn't the first skinhead RAC band to exist since Ian Stuart wasn't involved in far-right politics until the beginning of the '80s. That title would go The Ovaltinees whose first release "British Justice" which features a neat little ditty called "Argentina", celebrating Britain's victory in the Falklands:
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Peter & the Wolf was also among the earliest known RAC bands. Their demotape remained unreleased until it was discovered and issued on CD by a Bulgarian RAC label in 2000. According to the insert, the band recorded the instruments in studio while the vocalist recorded in the kitchen of a bandmate's mother. Consequently, the lyrics are largely unintelligible, but the rock has a distinctly raw edge.
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Wyatt Collins
Next up is London Branch who put out a demo in 1983. The band frequently played the 100 Club in London. After a series of setbacks, the band called it quits. British Nationalism abound.
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The Die-Hards released one demo and later appeared on the National Front sponsored compilation "This Is White Noise" EP and later "No Surrender" released by Rock-O-Rama Records. Apart from breaking up and reforming (before breaking up again presumably), little else is known about the band.
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And, finally, we have Brutal Attack, the only band whose frontman Ken McLellan continues to make music today. These guys are just about as significant as Skrewdriver and later No Remorse and Skullhead. In fact, you could call these guys one of The Big Four of British RAC. Special note goes to "As the Drum Beats" whose main chord is eerily similar to "Whole Lotta Rosie" from AC/DC.
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James Allen
Very informative, thank you.
Jordan Torres
In case it wasn't screamingly obvious, the RAC band Public Enemy from Kent are completely unrelated to the rap group of the same name, though I'd imagine (later) lead singer Paul Burnley would find a few things to agree on if he ever met Professor Griff. These blokes went on a hiatus shortly after releasing "England's Glory", but not before recruiting Paul Burnley on vocals after some line-up changes. "England's Glory" epitomizes everything the uninitiated would think about RAC with shouty yob Darren "Dal" Mumford yelling to bring back capital punishment to lynch your local rapist all over a steady burst of power chords, tinny drums and cymbal crashes.
Just as the American Hip-Hop legends started shaking up the underground, Paul Burnley resurrected Public Enemy with guitarist Martin Cross to release an album "There Is Only One..." flipping the bird towards the Long Island rappers. Notice the distinct difference between the older and newer incarnations of Public Enemy with the former favoring a straightforward, aggressive style of Oi! like their First Wave brethren while the latter slows down the tempo to a footstomping Hard Rock beat in the vein of the Second Wave. Also different is the lyrical themes. Old Public Enemy strictly stuck to British Nationalism whereas Burnley-era Public Enemy was full-on 1488 Nazi:
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Nu-Public Enemy:
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Picking a purposely funny yet identifiable name, Indecent Exposure entered the scene as The Hemel Boot Boys before changing their name after a few line-up changes. "Reveal All" is aggressive, passionate and surprisingly catchy.
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Cooper Turner
bumping a good thread
Joseph Scott
About as well-known as Skrewdriver and at times even better, Newcastle-based Skullhead were among the few true northerners of RAC's most well-known bands. Also distinct of the band was their staunch Odinist faith and Third Position political stance, where they were as critical of capitalism as they were of communism. Fittingly, the Oi! here sounds as it were conceived in the dingy, dank alleyways of the city centre. "White Warrior" is borne out of social frustration, sorrow, pain and anger, having been inspired by the brutal murder of a close friend Peter Mathewson. Subsequent albums would drift towards a Hard Rock sound that are just as compelling, but their debut just has the right elements for a memorable debut.
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No Remorse and their charismatic frontman Paul Burnley would spearhead the Second Wave with "This Time the World". While Brutal Attack and Skrewdriver would sing the glories of England and cast the Third Reich as tragic heroes, they rarely made it racial with one notable exception from the early years.
Fast forward three years later and we have "This Time the World", an album telling you what they thought about Pakistanis, Jews, Blacks and whoever else. Named after George Lincoln Rockwell's book, the music remorselessly embodies the principle of evil. Also significant is that it was the premiere British band on French label Rebelles Européens. Rebelles Européens proudly featured records with emblazoned with Swastikas, Reichsadlers and more.
No Remorse is vicious, degenerate, violent and just vile. The band revels in their slur-laced poetry and, all things considered, the music is as memorable as they come, for the worst and best reasons. Has to be heard to be believed.
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Zachary Green
eat shit. i'm not right wing and I can still agree that Back With a Bang / I Don't Like You is one of the greatest punk 7" records ever.