LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sham 69
built 806 days ago
Formed in Hersham, Surrey in 1975, Sham 69 were the ultimate "lads" band. All pints of lager, football terrace chants and menacing cock-sure attitudes. Jimmy Pursey was a fierce, working-class idealist and avenging angel of the unemployed.
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Sham 69 originally broke up after their fourth album, and Pursey moved in a heavy metal direction after working with the remaining members of the Sex Pistols for a short time, under the name Sham Pistols. Rick Goldstein, Dave Parsons and Dave Treganna joined the 1980s glam punk/gothic rock band The Wanderers with Stiv Bators of The Dead Boys before he formedThe Lords of the New Church. Stiv Batorsand Dave Treganna recruited Nick Turner of The Barracudas and Brian James of The Damned to become Lords of the New Church. In 1981, Pursey collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the single "Animals Have More Fun" which was commercially unsuccessful.
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This aside, Sham 69 continued to release a string of commercially sucessful singles. "If The kids are United" , with it's cartoon strip advertising adorning the music press, went to number 9 in the Summer of 1978. Pursey saw Punk as about breaking down barriers. "If The Kids Are United" was not really a call to arms, but more a way of saying that the disco kids should join up with the Led Zeppelin fans, the Skinheads with the Hell's Angels. Needless to say the plea was largely ignored.
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In 1987, Sham 69 was resurrected with a different lineup, releasing the single "Rip And Tear". If The Kids Are United" was used in a McDonald's advertising campaign, long after the rights to the band's songs had been sold. By that time, Pursey was a vegetarian, and he appeared in the British media condemning the use of his song by what he considered a multinational abuser of animals and humans.
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Bators formed The Lords of the New Church later in 1981 with Brian James of The Damned and Dave Tregunna of Sham 69. (Bators and Tregunna had ... been in the Wanderers together). The Lords became notorious for their live shows. A devotee of Iggy Pop, Bator had developed a fearless reputation in his Dead Boys days and continued such antics with The Lords, the most famous being the time he reportedly hanged himself during a show. Bator's stunt went awry and he was pronounced clinically dead for several minutes. Nonetheless, Bator survived and The Lords recorded two more successful albums.
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This thirteen track live album shows the fierce avenging angels of the unemployed, Sham 69 at their explosive best. Amongst the numerous highlights are superb live versions of such hits as "If The Kids Are United", "Hersham Boys", "Tell The Children" and "Angels With Dirty Faces". Loud, raw and aggressive.
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Sham 69