| Cockney Rejects | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Rejects |
| Origin | East End of London, England |
| Genres | Punk rock Oi! Street punk |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Website | www.cockneyrejectsofficial.com |
| Members | |
| Jeff Geggus Mick Geggus Tony Van Frater Andrew Laing |
|
| Past members | |
| Chris Murrell Paul Harvey Vince Riordan Andy Scott Nigel Woolf Ian Campbell Keith Warrington Nobby Cobb Micky Burt |
|
Cockney Rejects are an English punk rock band that formed in the East End of London in 1978.[1] Their 1980 song "Oi, Oi, Oi" was the inspiration for the name of the Oi! music genre.[2] The band members are loyal supporters of West Ham United, and pay tribute to the club with their hit cover version of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", a song traditionally sung by West Ham supporters.
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Cockney Rejects were formed in 1978 by brothers Jeff and Micky Geggus, with their brother-in-law Chris Murrell on bass and Paul Harvey on drums. Their first demo single, "Flares n' Slippers", caught the attention of Small Wonder Records owner Pete Stennett, who introduced the band to Bob Sergeant. With Sergeant, they recorded their single "I Wanna Be A Star", which sold out its first pressing. Murrell and Harvey were then replaced by Vince Riordan on bass and Andy Scott on drums, from fellow East End London band, The Tickets. This became known as Cockney Rejects' classic lineup, and its debut at the Bridge House in Canning Town in June 1979 is considered a turning point for the band. In September of that same year, the band signed with EMI and released their album Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 in February 1980.
Their biggest hit single in the United Kingdom, 1980's "The Greatest Cockney Rip-Off", was a parody of Sham 69's song "Hersham Boys". Other Cockney Rejects songs were less commercial, partly because they tended to be about hard-edged topics such as street fighting or football hooliganism. Other singles to appear in the UK were "Bad Man," "We Can Do Anything," and "We Are the Firm" — all from 1980.[3]
The violence depicted in their lyrics was often mirrored at their concerts, and the band members often fought to defend themselves (often from supporters of opposing football teams) or to split up conflicts between audience members.[4] Jeff and Mick Geggus (who are brothers) had both been amateur youth boxers, and had fought at the national level.
Cockney Rejects expressed contempt for all politicians in their lyrics, and they rejected media claims that they had a British Movement following, or that the band members supported the views of that far right group. In their first Sounds interview, they mockingly referred to the British Movement as the "German Movement" and stated that many of their heroes were black boxers.[2] Jeff Turner's autobiography Cockney Reject describes an incident in which the band members and their supporters had a massive fight against British Movement members at one of Cockney Rejects' early concerts.[4]
The band released their most recent album, Unforgiven, on the G&R London independent record label in May 2007.[5]
EMI records are releasing a definitive Rejects retrospective on August 29. Called Join the Rejects, the Zonophone years '79-'81, it's a 3-disc collection of all their EMI recordings including all the Peel sessions and rare demos from the day. Also included is a colour booklet with a blow-by-blow account of the stories behind the music by Micky Geggus.
The Rejects movie East End Babylon is in post production, and is due to be released in February 2012, with an album of the same name due to be released at the same time.
(See 1980-1983 line-up)
(See 1999 line-up)