i've always said that dc hardcore knocked any variety of british punk into a cocked hat in terms of intensity, sense of purpose, plain, simple chops and pretty much everything else, but the thing is that really all those guys were doing was offering an alternative reading of bands like discharge, filtered through a different cultural lens. i'm not big on most oi, mainly because of all the prolier than thou garry bushell posturing, the really unsavoury right-wing, racist crossover etc. there's just something a bit yucky about it., but it was important as the inspiration for a much better scene several thousand miles away
Oi!
- Thread starter martin
- Start date
stelfox said:
This is an interesting point.
My French cousin was a BIG Oi! fan. I remember clearly as an 11 y.o being terrified by his posters of the Pistols and Sham69 in his bedroom. He lived in DC for a few years and got heavily into the whole discord punk thing as well as the whole reggae/early hiphop/Southern Records. The Southern Records/distribution deal is another interesting crossover from Oi! to more anarchist/working class musics, heading back toward the UK and beyond the right-wing/Nazi links..This then filters even further into the anarcho-rave thing as well..
john eden
male pale and stale
blissblogger said:
I'd rather listen to Oi than prog, any day of the week!
blissblogger said:
Are there more problems with Oi than there are with Grime or Dancehall? (Genuine question, cos I don't know the answer).
I've not read Bushell's actual sleevenotes, but has anyone on Dissensus been put off "street" music because of the theorising of a public school educated music journalist?
blissblogger said:
Well - I think you've outlined Oi's appeal fairly well there... it's "no frills" vs the "musicianship" of US hardcore and theorising of post-punk in general. Perhaps Oi is to postpunk what grime is to dubstep, I dunno.
john eden said:I've not read Bushell's actual sleevenotes, but has anyone on Dissensus been put off "street" music because of the theorising of a public school educated music journalist?
ahem, that description applies to, like, a significant number of us, so watch it, eden!
john eden
male pale and stale
stelfox said:
Well there's yer actual contradiction right there, innit?
Joe Strummer said:
Daily Telegraph said:
Having said that, I'm not comparing Bushell to the wealth of great posters here. And it's not like most kids get to choose where they go to school anyway.
I do find it interesting, though, so I started a new thread.
Last edited:
I don't know what 'volkist' means, but the Bushell notes were hardly meant to be taken seriously - 'Oi! The Album' had the Khmer Rouge on its 'dedications' list, while Benny Hill and Daly Thompson got mentions on the back of 'Strength Thru Oi!' (it's also open to debate whether Bushell actually wrote most of the manic prose on the latter ; it seems a bit more 'poetic' than his usual style). In any case, the Bushell-compiled albums, in retrospect, don't fit that neatly into the Oi! canon, featuring as they did tracks by Slaughter and the Dogs (from 1977!), the abysmal Blacklace soundalikes Toy Dolls and some other shit that's not worth remembering. AFAIK he didn't go to public school but studied journalism at East London Poly. It's also worth noting that he actually associated with a majority of the early bands, directly booked gigs for them, went drinking with them etc and wasn't just a distant figure, passing comments and cooking up theories on what he thought 'the kids' were up to.
In case that sounds like I'm sticking up for him, I'm not, I couldn't care less about him either way. The best way of understanding Oi! is as a form of pure backlash- it probably wouldn't have existed if bands like Gang of Four, Magazine, Wire, Ultravox and The Pop Group hadn't. Similarly, I got into it when I was 16 or so, because I was sick of being surrounded by other A-Level students who couldn't stop listening to muck like Nirvana or Pearl Jam and moaning that their parents had never wanted them and they just wanted to meet a pretty indie girl who liked them for who they were.....in contrast to which, I found bands like Last Resort, Combat 84 and Public Enemy positively rocking. It's all about gut level OI!, it's music for bashing in social workers to, you're not supposed to sit and have a think about it once you've reached the end of Side 2! (I never had a social worker, but you get my drift)
There's another band I forgot, Public Enemy, who were an NF band but never really had the bottle to use openly racist lyrics - which is great, because it makes their only LP, "England's Glory", a treat to blast out loud. It's better than any pastiche could ever hope to be, the lyrics are the epitome of Oi! itself - the fake little girl screams on the barmy opener "Pervert" (a pro-hanging song where the singer expresses his concern that a child molestor might try and get him too after being released from prison) are one of the most glorious moments in underground rock culture.
In case that sounds like I'm sticking up for him, I'm not, I couldn't care less about him either way. The best way of understanding Oi! is as a form of pure backlash- it probably wouldn't have existed if bands like Gang of Four, Magazine, Wire, Ultravox and The Pop Group hadn't. Similarly, I got into it when I was 16 or so, because I was sick of being surrounded by other A-Level students who couldn't stop listening to muck like Nirvana or Pearl Jam and moaning that their parents had never wanted them and they just wanted to meet a pretty indie girl who liked them for who they were.....in contrast to which, I found bands like Last Resort, Combat 84 and Public Enemy positively rocking. It's all about gut level OI!, it's music for bashing in social workers to, you're not supposed to sit and have a think about it once you've reached the end of Side 2! (I never had a social worker, but you get my drift)
There's another band I forgot, Public Enemy, who were an NF band but never really had the bottle to use openly racist lyrics - which is great, because it makes their only LP, "England's Glory", a treat to blast out loud. It's better than any pastiche could ever hope to be, the lyrics are the epitome of Oi! itself - the fake little girl screams on the barmy opener "Pervert" (a pro-hanging song where the singer expresses his concern that a child molestor might try and get him too after being released from prison) are one of the most glorious moments in underground rock culture.
john eden
male pale and stale
Stewart Home's Cranked Up Really High: Genre Theory and Punk Rock is now available online at Home's wickedly revamped website.
Including chapters on: Oi and Skrewdriver.
Including chapters on: Oi and Skrewdriver.
Kate Mossad
Well-known member
Spotted last week, Camden Record & Tape Exchange, Oi! The Album £50 next to Brian Jones Presents the Master Musicians of Joujouka for £65. Flashback 20 years, Oi! 50p, Brian Jones £50. Er, not sure what I'm trying to say here...
john eden
male pale and stale
You can't cheat commodification!
It is quite interesting how resilient Oi has been - perhaps something to do with the relative simplicity of it? Or the huge emphasis on "authenticity"?
Obviously globalisation means that most subcultures are present in most large urban centres, but it's doubtful that many people would have predicted original Oi stuff being worth serious cash in 2006, let alone there being a relatively vibrant Oi/skinhead scene over most of the globe...
swears
preppy-kei
Just reading about this tune has made me crack up with laughter! Oh no, the paedo might get me! Hang him quick!
it says that Camdren Record and Tape Exchange is a fucking rip off ("it's just a fake, make no mistake...")
i actually think, in the UK, that Oi! stuff is undervalued and undercollected... like 77 punk stuff is pricey, but 81-92 oi stuff is usually not... i was quite happy to pick up "the good, the bad, the 4 skins" for 6 pounds... there is a ton of great Oi! stuff (i am speaking about the original 79-83 stuff, can't speak on late 80's etc etc stuff). yeah, compared to US hardcore, Oi isn't as inventive or musically weird, however Oi! has a lot more catchy songs...
but, yeah, i saw Oi the album around, but the price was more in the 10-25 pound range, 50 is insane...
john eden
male pale and stale
Stewart Home's Cranked Up Really High: Genre Theory and Punk Rock is now available online at Home's wickedly revamped website.
Including chapters on: Oi and Skrewdriver.
the good thing about this thread being bumped is i got to read this stuff... LOL @ "Groovy Greil Marcus"...
for those keeping score at home, i got "Oi, the album" in Montreal last summer at Les Disques Sonik for 20 bucks CA, which i thought was fair...