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  4. Seen both (yes, I admit it) and whilst both or shouty, chanty and noisy.
    Being a traditionalist, the Jimmy version is best* (unless he decides to his interpretive dance)

    *”Best” is this instance is a subjective term. In this case, I think it means “less sh*t”

    • Isn’t it surprising, Ridge, that at a time when we’ve had documentaries on BBC4 or DVD docs on the likes of Adverts, Cockney Rejects, Outcasts, Johnny Moped (let alone Damned, Clash, Pistols) that we haven’t yet had a Sham doc?

      • There’d have to be 2 – one with Jim, and one where he is expunged from history.

        There was a 1979 documentary / drama thing based around the Thats Life album

        Enjoy (?)

        • Sham had a keyboard player! I never knew that.

          Jimmy Pursey was interviewed on Radio Luxembourg about that album. It was hilarious. He explained to the audience what each song was about. Apparently Hurry Up Harry is about waiting for his mate Harry to get ready to go out to the pub. There were similarly helpful explanations for the other tracks. Well, helpful to the Sham army at least.

  7. Anyone who produced a song like “Hurry Up Harry” will always be ok with me. Of their time and that’s where they should be left but Pursey on TOTP for this 14 year old was unforgettable “Come on”

  8. Crikey Colin, that is truly grim – with the non-Jimmy version shading it on the lumpen-awful-ometer.
    You do have a point about the notion of a Sham documentary though, as there was a time ( late 77 to early 79 I’d estimate) when they were HUGE & the genuinely terrifying Sham Army were a chaotic force to be reckoned with – to the extent that it was deemed prudent to include J Pursey on the bill of the ANL Carnival in Victoria Park – as seen in ‘ Rude Boy’ – there was a fear that the Carnival could descend into a massed brawl if Sham were not represented if only by proxy.
    There was definitely nothing pseud or pretentious about their appeal – the gigs were often brutal & all the school head cases were into them. Poor old JP was a good sort who was basically overwhelmed by an aggro genie that nobody could get back in the bottle or control.
    Strange days indeed.

    • I have the same shudder of recollection Jim – however well-intentioned they brought some truly horrible elements in their wake. It was a long time ago but when you’ve are been chased down the street to chants of “Shamshamshamshamsham” you tend to form an opinion of people. Luckily they never caught up with me but some of mates weren’t so lucky – no permanent damage fortunately. I realise that there were serious physical threats elsewhere at the time but that was enough for me. I wasn’t averse to a bit of thrash like the Lurkers but not this lot – even the UK Subs were better than this!

      • No, I can’t allow that! The Uk Subs were beyond awful. ‘Stranglehold’ has to be the most moronic slab of bilge ever released, and that front guy was totally bereft of talent.

        • Hahaha! I’m sure this site would explode if you started a “most moronic slab of bilge” thread…..Fortunately the one UK Subs title I can only recall is only title and not an actual song “Live In A Car”…that critical moment when the Roxy was replaced by the Vortex?

          PS TV Smith had some good songs and is still going at this same festivals you mention although wild horses etc etc….

        • Mention of UK Subs always provokes a reflex action of referring to their recently completed run of 26 alphabetically-named albums, from “Another Kind Of Blues” to this year’s “Ziezo” (with the latter’s sleeve echoing the former.) They also get bonus points for using “L” for “Live In Paris”, “P” for “Peel Sessions”, and “X” for their 24th album, “XXIV”… please don’t make me listen to them, though…

          … as for Sham, I have Hersham Boys & Hurry Up Harry on compilations and they’re both daft enough to raise a smile when they pop up on shuffle occasionally… Jimmy Pursey was apparently also a regular at the “Walton Hop” disco, of Jonathan King infamy, though JP has always said he never saw any wrongdoing in his time…

        • I just lost a hugely overlong riposte to you, Colin ( iPad died) – brimming with with sociological insight it was – how Sham were the first Oi band, explicit detail of how violent their gigs were & why there’s nowt cosy or nostalgic about them for me..
          However, they key point is the UK Subs were excellent live, great moronic, , sweaty stage diving fun, & for a while only them & The Ruts held the torch for such stuff.
          Neither band’s recorded material does them justice ( some of The Ruts’ is respectable), but live they were a glorious racket. We are talking punk rock after all, & really live is where it matters.
          I’ve seen a few decent gigs & people of note but I can honestly say my recollections of the UK Subs at The Lyceum & The Ruts at The Marquee are right up there ( honest).
          ?

          • I saw the Ruts once and the UK Subs a few times. Both good live bands. I did have the misfortune to encounter the Sham army on one occasion. After the gig (which was an un-policed battle throughout) we were in a mini bus about to leave when this Asian guy got a brick thrown at his head from about a yard away, completely unprovoked. I suppose kudos to the driver who had the balls to get out and remonstrate with the bemused perpetrator, but I was thinking get in the bus and put your foot down.

            What amuses me about Stranglehold is that for the TOTP appearance, they changed “she’s only 13” to “she’s only 18” (still creepily young for a man of Charlie Harper’s age). I wonder if that was presented by Jimmy Saville.

  10. Angels With Dirty Faces (May 1978)
    If The Kids Are United (Jul 1978)
    Hurry Up Harry (Oct 1978)
    Questions And Answers (Mar 1979)
    Hersham Boys (Aug 1979)

    Not a bad little run of singles – all top 20. I know how all of them go too.

  11. I can be kind about Sham the way I am kind about Mud or 3rd rate prog (see: Barclay James Harvest). These acts serve a role in undermining hip and cool scenes by opening them up to all the uncool folks and telling those who will listen to move on. Sham 69’s emergence was a clear sign that it was also time to move on to post-punk – MUCH more interesting.

    Jimmy Sham also moved on to more ‘interesting’ things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGEXLWNccBM

  12. It depends. Steve Hillage adding glissando to “Angels with Dirty Faces” – definitely fun; Sham – absolutely more fun than Joy Division; but being the focus of the bonehead and NF-supporting “Sham Army” in an audience back in the day – not so amusing. Also, there is a BIG difference between dumb smart rock music (Ramones, Iggy, Alice Cooper, etc.), and dumb dumb rock music (e.g., Sham, ANL, recent Ted Nugent).

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