Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer...always dug their sounds...street punk, working class. Oi Polloi...the common folk. Kinda got out of it when it got associated with the right-wing racist crowd.
The general ideology of the original movement was a rough sort of quasi-socialist working class populism. Lyrical topics included unemployment, workers' rights, harassment by police & other authorities, & oppression by the government.The genre became recognized in the latter part of the 1970s, emerging after the perceived commercialization of punk rock, but still before the soon-to-dominate hardcore punk sound.
In 1980, writing in Sounds, rock journalist Garry Bushell labeled the movement Oi!, taking the name from the garbled "Oi!" that Stinky Turner of Cockney Rejects used to introduce the band's songs.The word Oi is an old Cockney expression, simply meaning hey or hello.
Although Oi! has come to be considered mainly a skinhead-oriented genre, the first Oi! bands were composed mostly of punk rockers & people who fit neither the skinhead nor punk label.Because some fans of Oi! were involved in white nationalist organisations such as the National Front & the British Movement, some histories of rock music dismiss Oi! as racist. Because of its racist connection, the Oi! movement lost momentum in the United Kingdom, but Oi! scenes formed in continental Europe, North America, Asia & other locations.
In Japan, the street punk, skinhead, or Oi! movement is a vital part of the Japanese musick scene. Although Baws is probably the first Japanese Oi! band, Cobra is usually sited for this honor. Cobra is regarded as one of the world’s best Oi! bands, giving influences for South American & European bands as the original wave of Oi! died out. The lack of schism between skinheads & punks, between left-wing & right-wing is one of the reasons why the Japanese skinhead culture is regarded as one of the most organized & prospering in the world. The contemporary Japanese bands stress unity in their works, as well as a disregard for mass cultural acceptance; the desire to remain marginal. According to Cobra (talking about the Japanese scene & the record label that they run): “Some people in the punk movement today have missed the whole idea. Any true punk or skin will tell you that punk has nothing to do with just having fun, or trying to keep up with this year’s fashions. Imitation & aiming for mass acceptance may be OK for fake punk rockers, but they will never be part of real punk. This label supports only true punks & skins.”
This compilation is a bootleg of an AA Records release. All recordings were made between 1986 & 1990 & feature some of the early Japanese Oi! bands.
Various Artists - Oi of Japan, Volume 2, AA Records bootleg JAP 02, 1991??(note: the tracks are not listed on the album label, only on the back cover. both sides list nine tracks but there are only eight tracks on each side. i have done my best to decide what's up. i have noted the inconsistencies. bootlegging/translation problem? someone shed some light here. first one with the correct info wins a prize of my/their choice.)
Side A:
Mamat's - To Sex to Money 1, 2, Clash
Baseball Furies - Carry on True
Baseball Furies - Don't Go Out of Vogue
Cockney Cocks - Blue
Cockney Cocks - Wasted Time
(the Cockney Cocks tracks appear to be only one track. the lyrics seem to say Blue Time?)
Gruesome - Wind Jammer
Gruesome - Dog & Stag
Real - ??? (something in Japanese)
Index - Dream in Actuality
Side B:
Bugs Bunny - Holy Terror
Wanderers - Don't Look Tomorrow
Wanderers - Here We Go Again
Doccoi - Right & Duty
Doccoi - Cross My Heart
(seems to be the same place on both sides, tracks 4 & 5. appears to be only one track. this time Japanese lyrics give me no clue. near the end is an instumental break then a repeated chorus that might be 'Cross My Heart'. can anyone translate the lyrics & let me know?)
Baws - We Are the Baws
Shuffle - Angel Baby
Cockney Cocks - Empty Heart
Cockney Cocks - Don't Say Any More
Enjoy,
NØ
