Oi!

  1. communard resolution
    communard resolution
    Punky revolutionaries - let's dedicate this thread to our thoughts on the Oi movement, also known as street punk.

    I'll kick off with this 1982 performance and interview with legendary British Oi band Blitz on Channel 4. To the band's great embarrassement, they cannot defend themselves against the criticisms thrown at them by a Channel 4 nerd.

    + YouTube Video
    ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


    Best moment is no doubt the following bit, which some would argue says a lot about the Oi 'movement' as a whole:

    Interviewer: Your album is called Voice of a Generation. What is the voice saying?

    Band: Erm... um... um...

    Interviewer: So the voice is saying nothing. Fair enough.
  2. Fawkes
    Fawkes
    I'll watch that video when I get home, because I'm at school and can't watch it. I love Oi!, and though kind of cliche, my favorite Oi! band is probably the Cockney Rejects. The unity between punks and skins is probably the main draw to it for me.

    Does anyone know anything about the band Terrible Twins from England? The only thing I know about them is that they played Generation of Scars on Oi! the Album.
  3. communard resolution
    communard resolution

    Does anyone know anything about the band Terrible Twins from England?
    Terrible Twins = Cockney Rejects under a different name.

    One famous Oi buzzphrase went "havin' a laugh and havin' a say". I suggest it was really "havin' a fight and havin' nothing much to say". Opinions?
  4. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    I dig it.
    Sex and violence!!!!

    That said I dont think Oi! has nothing to say, in fact I love it's more populist approach to social issues over something that's full of complicated rethoric.

    Some of my favorite Oi! bands include The Adicts, Angelic Upstarts, Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer.

    I also thought Skrewdriver's first album All Skrewed Up was pretty damn good.
    Sadly Mr. Stuart (who ironically played "black" blues music in a Rolling Stones coverband before going punk) became nazi and kicked out all his bandmates and replaced them with worthless boneheads who were just godawful.
  5. Fawkes
    Fawkes
    Terrible Twins = Cockney Rejects under a different name.

    One famous Oi buzzphrase went "havin' a laugh and havin' a say". I suggest it was really "havin' a fight and havin' nothing much to say". Opinions?
    Thanks, I've been wondering that for a while. I thought they sounded a lot like the Rejects. Like Pirate Utopian said, a lot of Oi! bands did have something to say, they just did it without "trying to be artistic and losing touch."
  6. communard resolution
    communard resolution
    That said I dont think Oi! has nothing to say, in fact I love it's more populist approach to social issues over something that's full of complicated rethoric.
    I can see what you're saying, but the problem is not their populist approach, but the boringly conservative social attitudes lurking behind a lot of Oi music.

    The Adicts
    Some decent songs, but not really an Oi band, were they?

    Sham 69, Cockney Rejects
    Godawful.

    Cock Sparrer.
    Great late 70s demos and singles, very glammy stuff. Not my cup of tea by the time they recorded Shock Troops.

    Now that I think about it, I kind of do mind the populist approach too. It's too much of a "telling it as it is" social realist aesthetic without a hint of style, irony, or any genuinely creative elements.

    I partly blame Oi for introducing a gang mentality, uniformity, and an anti-creative sense of conservatism to punk.

    There are some good Oi songs, but too much of it is beer-soaked football anthems. I'm also not sure about how Oi habitually reinforces tabloid press stereotypes of working class-ness. In the early 80s, it was perfectly possible to be working class and punk to the core, but come up with stuff like this:

    + YouTube Video
    ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.
  7. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    Maybe it's the beauty of punk that you can have post-punk on one hand and Oi! on the other.

    The Adicts had an Oi!-touch anyway.
    I really love their Clockwork Orange-style, they were definitly creative.

    I'm must say apart from the bands I mentioned plus maybe Slaughter & The Dogs and The 4-Skins (wich arent great but had a few great ones) and some Oi!-comps I'm not really an expert on Oi!
  8. communard resolution
    communard resolution
    Maybe it's the beauty of punk that you can have post-punk on one hand and Oi! on the other.
    You're right, of course. Maybe it's just my way of evaluating things when I point out the worst aspects I can think of first.

    To me most Oi is boring, but I like some songs by The Blood, and for some strange reason I like French Oi. Don't ask me why.

    I like the Angelic Upstarts' politics more than I like their music, but I can see how they were better than the average Oi troupe.
  9. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    The French are always great at any type of punk they attempt.

    Be it standard punk (Reich Orgasm/Plastic Bertrand's song Ca Plane Pour Moi), post-punk (Metal Urbain) or whatever.
  10. communard resolution
    communard resolution
    Musically, the Oi bands were probably the Anti-Revisionists of punk: intolerant of new ideas, claiming to firmly stick to the roots while still somehow vulgarizing the original, and ending up socially conservative rather than progressive.
  11. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    But... Oi! has fun and social lives!
  12. communard resolution
    communard resolution
    But... Oi! has fun and social lives!
    As opposed to anarcho-punk you mean? Probably true. What's the punk equivalent of Trots?
  13. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    Pop-Punkers.
    They try so hard to fit in but they just dont get along with anybody else, plus they all call eachother posuers.
  14. Riot11
    Riot11
    I like Oi! alot but i must say that i dont like alot of the older bands. I like Blitz, Cock Sparrer, and Sham 69. thats about it though. I love the newer bands though Lower Class Brats, Main Street Saints, Pressure Point Resilience. all realy good bands.
  15. dez
    dez
    Musically, the Oi bands were probably the Anti-Revisionists of punk: intolerant of new ideas, claiming to firmly stick to the roots while still somehow vulgarizing the original, and ending up socially conservative rather than progressive.
    anti revisionists are neither intolerant of new ideas or socially conservative
  16. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    Uh-oh. Infiltrant!
  17. dez
    dez
    Uh-oh. Infiltrant!
    *mumbles*
    intolerance
    *mumbles*
  18. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    'cuz I wanna be anarkeeeee!
  19. dez
    dez
    'cuz I wanna be anarkeeeee!
    just be then
  20. Pirate Utopian
    Pirate Utopian
    lol. I'm buzzing.
    What do you think of Oi?

    Lately I've been really starting to dislike it.
  21. dez
    dez
    lol. I'm buzzing.
    What do you think of Oi?

    Lately I've been really starting to dislike it.
    I dont dislike it but lately ive been more into digital hardcore (no connection at all, lol).

  22. bananachism
    bananachism
    there's some good american oi-meets-hardcore you should check out, like warzone, 86 mentality, iron boots (just a modern warzone really) and the abused

    4-skins are a fave of mine and i know some people moan, oh they're notorious one of the members went onto skrewdriver, but they also had commited socialists aswell as apolitical members
  23. NGNM85
    NGNM85
    Cock Sparrer are fucking amazing. I also love Anti-Hero's, Dropkick Murphys, the Business, the 4-Skins, and the Angelic Upstarts.
  24. Chambered Word
    Chambered Word
    Pop-Punkers.
    They try so hard to fit in but they just dont get along with anybody else, plus they all call eachother posuers.
    I don't see how this fits in with Trotskyism.

    Also, I fucking hate the idea of pop-punk and most music that is said to be pop-punk (Green Day being probably the only exception).
  25. Cane Nero
    Terrible Twins = Cockney Rejects under a different name.

    One famous Oi buzzphrase went "havin' a laugh and havin' a say". I suggest it was really "havin' a fight and havin' nothing much to say". Opinions?
    I agree with you that some bands dont really have much to say, but their is some OI! bands with something to say. Sham 69 for example isnĀ“t a political band but talks a lot of the working class social life.
    Here in Brazil we have a OI! band called Garotos Podres ("Rotten Boys"), and they have both songs with political criticism, class analysis and music made just for fun.
    Yeah there are idiots in OI! but also in any other musical style.
  26. newdayrising
    newdayrising
    for some strange reason I like French Oi. Don't ask me why.
    Don't need to ask. You like it because it's totally awesome. Maybe even better than most british bands, to be honest. Take those Chaos Productions comps like Chaos En France, the tunes in there stay inside your head forever. Camera Silens in particular was a fantastic band.
  27. Amandla
    Amandla
    Cock Sparrer and Angelic Upstarts.....aye.
    SLF?
  28. theuproar
    theuproar
    I'll watch that video when I get home, because I'm at school and can't watch it. I love Oi!, and though kind of cliche, my favorite Oi! band is probably the Cockney Rejects. The unity between punks and skins is probably the main draw to it for me.

    Does anyone know anything about the band Terrible Twins from England? The only thing I know about them is that they played Generation of Scars on Oi! the Album.
    I have "Generation of Scars" tattooed on my left forearm. Good song.
  29. theuproar
    theuproar
    My favorite, by far, is Chiswick-era Skrewdriver. Moan about it all you want; the lyrics are good, the music is good, and there is literally zero racist content.

    Angelic Upstarts, 4-skins, the Allied (from Detroit) are some good classics. Newer bands like 86 Mentality, Riff Raff, and Templars are good, as well.