Oi!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oi! also called Street punk is a subgenre of punk rock originating in the United Kingdom that sought to align punk with a working class street-level following.[1]
The Oi! genre began in the latter part of the 1970s, fusing the styles of early punk bands such as The Clash and the Ramones; early British rock (i.e. the Rolling Stones, The Who); football chants; pub rock (i.e.101ers, Eddie and the Hot Rods); and glam rock bands (i.e. Slade, Sweet). The music was seen as promoting unity between punks, skinheads and other working class youths (sometimes called herberts).
The Oi! movement was partly a response to a sense that many participants in the early punk scene were, in the words of The Business guitarist Steve Kent, "trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic...and losing touch".[2]
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[edit] Origins
The first Oi! bands included Sham 69, Cock Sparrer, the Cockney Rejects and the Angelic Upstarts, although some of them were around for years before the word Oi! was used to describe their style of music. The first incarnation of Skrewdriver, which began in 1976, is often described as Oi!, although the band never participated in the official Oi! scene. These bands were followed by bands such as The Business, The Last Resort, The 4-Skins, Blitz, Combat 84, Infa Riot, The Blood, Condemned 84 and The Oppressed. American cousins U.S.CHAOS were the first in America around 1981.[3]
Originally the style was called streetpunk or reality punk. It wasn't until the early 1980s that music journalist Garry Bushell labeled the movement Oi!, supposedly derived from the Cockney Rejects song Oi! Oi! Oi!.[4] The word Oi! is an old Cockney expression, simply meaning hey! or hello!
The general ideology of the original Oi! movement was a rough sort of quasi-socialist working class populism. Lyrical topics included unemployment, workers' rights, police harassment and government oppression.[5] They also covered less-political topics like street violence, football (with chants), sex and alcohol. Although Oi! has become to be considered mainly a skinhead-oriented genre, the first Oi! bands were mostly comprised of punk rockers and people who fit neither the skinhead nor punk label.
[edit] Controversy
Because some fans of Oi! were involved in white power organizations such as the National Front and the British Movement, some histories of rock music dismiss Oi! as racist.[6] However, none of the original Oi! bands promoted racism in their lyrics, and some bands, such as the Angelic Upstarts and The Oppressed were associated with left wing politics and anti-racism.
One of the few exceptions is Skrewdriver, who by the mid-1980s was leading a neo-Nazi rock scene, preferring the term Rock Against Communism instead of Oi!. Apart from Ian Stuart Donaldson, the band had a different lineup than in the late 1970s, and some members of the first incarnation of Skrewdriver have stated they do not wish to be associated with Donaldson's racist views.[7]
The mainstream media associated Oi! with far right politics following a concert by The Business, The Last Resort and The 4-Skins on July 4, 1981 at the Hamborough Tavern in Southall. Asian youths firebombed the tavern, mistakingly believing that the concert was a neo-Nazi gathering.[8]
In the aftermath, many Oi! bands condemned racism and fascism, but these denials were met with cynicism from some quarters following the release of the Strength Thru Oi compilation album. Not only was its title a play on a Nazi slogan (Strength Through Joy) but the cover featured Nicky Crane, a British Movement activist who was serving a four-year sentence for racist violence. Garry Bushell, who was responsible for compiling the album, claimed its title was a pun on The Skids album Strength Through Joy. He also denied knowing the identity of the skinhead on the album's cover until it was exposed by the Daily Mail two months later.[9]
Bushell, who was a socialist at the time, noted the irony of being branded a far-right activist by a paper who "had once supported Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts, Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia, and appeasement with Hitler right up to the outbreak of World War Two."[10]
Oi! bands are often at odds with pop punk bands and fans. A song by Chicago pop punk band Screeching Weasel, entitled Tightrope, takes aim at "tough-guy, so-called working class or streetpunk bands". The song Little Rich Working Class Oi-Boy, by The Queers, criticizes fans of streetpunk and Oi! music.
[edit] Later development
The Oi! movement lost momentum in the UK, but Oi! scenes formed in continental Europe, Japan, and North America. In the United States, the Oi! phenomenon was mirrored by the Hardcore explosion of the early 1980s, especially by bands such as Agnostic Front, U.S.CHAOS, Iron Cross and S.S. Decontrol. Although similar in spirit and influence to Oi! (particularly in the earlier stages), Hardcore expounded itself in an American middle class (rather than working class) fashion as its influences spread. Other notable bands that have been influenced by the original Oi! scene include: The Press, Anti-Heros, The Templars, Oxblood, Wretched Ones, Those Unknown, Pressure Point, The Bruisers, Dropkick Murphys, Oxymoron, Street Dogs, Roger Miret and the Disasters, the GC5 and Hard Skin.
In the mid-1990s, there was a revival of interest in Oi! music, with new bands emerging and older bands receiving more recognition. With this revival came a further concerted effort to distance Oi! from racism. Many of the original UK Oi! bands have reunited to to perform and/or record in the 2000s, and some of them never broke up to begin with. Some of those bands are: Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Cock Sparrer, Angelic Upstarts, the Business, Cockney Rejects, Red Alert and Sham 69 (who announced another breakup in late January 2007).
[edit] Fashion
Oi! fashion includes (but is not limited to) items such as leather jackets (sometimes painted with slogans or band names, and covered with metal spikes or studs), jeans, bondage trousers, bullet belts, studded leather belts, spiked or shaven hairstyles (including mohawks, often dyed), piercings, army boots or Dr. Martens boots. Skinhead-based items such as Ben Sherman or Fred Perry shirts, flight jackets and braces are popular among fans.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Dalton, Stephen, "Revolution Rock", Vox, June 1993
- ^ Robb, John (2006). Punk Rock: An Oral History (London: Elbury Press). ISBN 0-09-190511-7
- ^ Marshall, George (1991). Spirit of '69 - A Skinhead Bible. Dunoon, Scotland: S.T. Publishing. ISBN 1-898927-10-3).
- ^ Robb, John (2006). Punk Rock: An Oral History (London: Elbury Press). ISBN 0-09-190511-7
- ^ Robb, John (2006). Punk Rock: An Oral History (London: Elbury Press). ISBN 0-09-190511-7
- ^ Robb, John (2006). Punk Rock: An Oral History (London: Elbury Press). ISBN 0-09-190511-7
- ^ http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/skrewdriver.htm
- ^ Robb, John (2006). Punk Rock: An Oral History (London: Elbury Press). ISBN 0-09-190511-7
- ^ www.garry-bushell.co.uk/oi/index.asp
- ^ www.garry-bushell.co.uk/oi/index.asp
[edit] External links
- History of Oi! by Garry Bushell
- Punk and Oi! in the UK -includes interviews and news about Oi! bands
- Oi! the Web Site -includes information about the original Oi! compilation albums
- Chapter on Oi! in Skinhead Nation
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