The Undertones

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The picture cover of the Undertones' 1979 You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It!) single

The Undertones are an Irish rock band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1975. The band's lineup was as follows:

Feargal Sharkey (lead vocals),
John O'Neill (guitar),
Damian O'Neill (guitar, keyboards and vocals),
Michael Bradley (bass and vocals), and
Billy Doherty (drums).

Singer Sharkey's quavering delivery was distinctive, and made the band instantly recognisable. By 1977 they were performing their own three-chord pop punk material influenced by Nuggets-type material and the Ramones, and in 1978 released their debut four-song EP Teenage Kicks on the Good Vibrations label. It became a hit with support from noted BBC DJ John Peel, who considered that EP's title song his all-time favourite. The original release came housed in a flimsy paper poster style sleeve, in white, mustard yellow, pink or green. The first pressing has the song titles printed upside down when the poster is opened, later copies correct this but omit 'Undertones' from the poster. Some labels credit The Undertones and some just Undertones. Allegedly, 7000 copies were pressed.The song has been covered by many including boyband Busted (at the 2003 Brit Awards) and French band Nouvelle Vague.

The band released four studio albums: The Undertones (1979), Hypnotised (1980), Positive Touch (1981) The Sin Of Pride (1983). Falling sales linked to their changing musical direction and tensions within the band, leading to their split in 1983. A compilation album titled All Wrapped Up featured a woman wrapped in bacon and clear plastic on the cover. Several other compilations including the BBC sessions CD Listening In (named after a song on their first album) exist.

The band reconviened in 1999 to play shows in their hometown of Derry, replacing singer Feargal Sharkey with a similarly warbling new recruit, Paul McLoone. Being back in the swing, the band released an album of original material with McLoone in 2003 titled "Get What You Need". The band continue to play gigs and write new material at this time.

The band also were the subject of a 2004 documentary "The Undertones: Teenage Kicks", which features the band wandering old their haunts with John Peel and charting their history from fresh faced beginnings through current reformed status.

1 Singles
2 Albums
3 Compilation Albums
4 Quotations
5 External links

[edit] Singles

Teenage Kicks (1978)
Get Over You (1979)
Jimmy Jimmy (1979)
Here Comes The Summer (1979)
You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?) (1979)
My Perfect Cousin (1980) (UK #9)
Wednesday Week (1980)
It's Going To Happen! (1981)
Julie Ocean (1981)
Teenage Kicks (1983) - re-issue
Beautiful Friend
Love Parade
Got To Have You Back
Chain Of Love
Save Me
Thrill Me (2003)

[edit] Albums

The Undertones (1979)
Hypnotised (1980)
Positive Touch (1981)
The Sin Of Pride (1983)
The Peel Sessions Album (1989)
Get What You Need (2003)
Listening In: Radio Sessions 1978-1982 [LIVE] (2004)

[edit] Compilation Albums

Cher O'Bowlies - The Pick of the Undertones (1986)
The Very Best of the Undertones (1994)
True Confessions (Singles = A's & B's) (2000)
The Best of Undertones (Teenage Kicks) (2003)

[edit] Quotations

Scarcely a harsh word was ever written about the Undertones. Their genuine inability to pose or pontificate disarmed the most hardened critics. No-one could ever quite come to grips with their apparent innocence and naivity. They weren't at all naïve, of course, they just came across that way, and, to some extent, it prevented their later work from being taken as seriously as it deserved. Regarded as perpetual teenagers. No-one, it seemed, wanted them to grow up. — Mick Houghton, in liner notes to All Wrapped Up
I can't listen to it now without getting all dewy-eyed. And if I play it on the radio, I have to segue it into the front of another record because I can't speak after I've heard it. — John Peel on "Teenage Kicks"