Band: THE UNDERTONES Who: Power pop punks from Northern Ireland, formed in 1975 fronted
by vocalist Feargal Sharkey. When left in 1983 (after 4 LPs) the band
called it a day, but regrouped in 1999 with another frontman and still
have Teenage Kicks today.
Today it’s June 21 again, start of the summer and the longest day of the year.
Here in Belgium, it’s (another) rainy start, but fortunately, better days are around
the corner.
Anyway, no better way to gear up for a long summer with Northern
Irish pop-punk legends THE UNDERTONES and their sunlit 1979 hit HERE COMES THE SUMMER.
“Oh baby baby what can I do
You know you drive me crazy when I’m looking at you
The summer’s really here and it’s time to come out
Time to discover what fun is about
Here comes the summer
Here comes the summer
Here comes the summer
Keep looking for the girls with their faces all tanned
Lying on the beaches all covered in sand
Stretching out their long legs lying in the sun
They know they’re beautiful they’re having fun
Here comes the summer
Here comes the summer
Here comes the summer”
Happy 65 to the voice/face of Irish pop-punk legends THE UNDERTONES
from 1976-1983. After the band split, he went solo for some years and scored
a big hit with the sugary love song A Good Heart (more than 45 million streams
on Spotify), released 45 years ago next October.
But to celebrate the Irishman’s birthday, I go for that cool clip of The Undertones‘
most famous cracker TEENAGE KICKS (more than 68 million views on Spotify).
Upon first hearing the classic in September 1978, the late great (1939-2004)
BBC Radio DJ John Peel is reported to have burst into tears, and readily admitted
to still being moved to tears upon hearing the song in interviews granted to
journalists up until his death.
I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night
TOYAH and soulmate ROBERT FRIPP can’t stop going
crazy with their Sunday Lunch Cover sessions (since April 2020).
This is their first appearance in 2022.
And they have TEENAGE KICKS with the 1978 debut
single by Irish pop-punks THE UNDERTONES.
Nobody made punk sound that terrifically rousing, punchy and down-to-earth with
tons of sickly sticky tunes about daily, recognizable topics, like this dynamic Irish engine.
It made THE UNDERTONES stand out of the rest in those exciting times. They released
their second, stupendous LP ‘HYPNOTISED‘ 40 years ago, on 21 April 1980, recorded in
a studio in The Netherlands and London. A record full of teenage sing along kicks. The album reached No 6 on the UK’s albums chart.
ALL MUSIC wrote: “It’s hard to follow-up a classic… But ‘Hypnotised’ is only barely less perfect than the debut. The album contains 14 punky pop classics, with a slightly tougher edge than the unfailingly sweet-natured debut. The giddy love rush of the title track is matched by some of Feargal Sharkey’s most exuberant vocals, and the snotty ‘What’s with Terry?’ and ‘My Perfect Cousin’ are yet more perfect slices of adolescent frustration.” – Score 4.5/5
THREE TOP TRACKS:There Goes Norman / My Perfect Cousin / Girls That Don’t Talk
