Sham 69

Sham 69

Sham 69 are a punk band from Surrey, United Kingdom, active since 1975. They form in Hersham and are associated with punk, punk rock and street punk. The group includes Jimmy Pursey, Dave Parsons, Dave Tregunna and other members across different line-ups, including Albie Maskell, Mark Cain, Ricky Goldstein, Linda Paganelli, Andy Prince, Ian Whitewood, Mat Sargent and Alan Campbell.

Style and early importance

The band stands apart from many of their contemporaries because they do not come from an art school background. Their songs draw on football chants, drinking songs and direct political populism. They develop a large skinhead and hooligan following, which helps shape the sound and attitude later associated with the Oi! movement.

Their live shows become known for violence. After a performance at Middlesex Polytechnic in 1978 is disrupted by National Front skinheads fighting and rushing the stage, the group stops playing concerts for a time.

Recordings and chart success

Sham 69 release their first single, “Ulster”, on Step Forward Records in 1977. Its performance in the independent charts leads to a deal with Polydor. Their first major-label single is “Borstal Breakout” in 1978.

They then achieve UK singles chart success with “Angels With Dirty Faces”, which reaches number 19, “If The Kids Are United”, which reaches number 9, and “Hurry Up Harry”, which reaches number 10. “Hurry Up Harry” appears on That’s Life, the band’s second LP and first full studio album.

Across later releases, the band moves away from straightforward punk rock towards a sound influenced by British hard rock groups such as Mott The Hoople, The Who and The Faces. This shift is heard on The Adventures of the Hersham Boys.

Break-up and later activity

Sham 69 split after their fourth album. Pursey later works in a heavy metal direction with remaining members of the Sex Pistols under the name Sham Pistols. Dave Tregunna joins The Lords of the New Church with Stiv Bators of The Dead Boys and Brian James of The Damned.

Pursey revives Sham 69 in the 1990s with a different line-up. In 2006 he leaves the group, after which Dave Parsons continues with a new singer. The band continues to tour in that line-up.

Later media attention

“If The Kids Are United” is later used in a McDonald's advertising campaign after the rights to the songs have been sold. The band also receives wider attention when the song is played as Tony Blair enters the 2005 Labour Party Conference. They are invited onto BBC Newsnight, where they perform a revised version of the song referring to the Iraq war. In 2006, a new version of “Hurry Up Harry” is adapted as “Hurry Up England” and reaches number 10 in the UK Top 40.

Pursey is also known for his vegetarianism and for speaking publicly against the use of one of his songs by a multinational company.