Angelic Upstarts

Angelic Upstarts is one of the first Oi! bands. The songs of the group from South Shields, England, deal with topics of the political left and the interests and problems of the working class.

History

Angelic Upstarts was formed in 1977 by Thomas "Mensi" Mensforth (vocals), Ray "Moon" Cowie (guitar), Steve Forsten (bass) and Decca Wade (drums). During the years of its existence, the band had a strongly changing line-up.

The 1979 debut single, Murder of Liddle Towers, dealt with police brutality; that same year, Sham 69's Jimmy Pursey produced the first Upstarts album, Teenage Warning; with this and the following We Gotta Get Outta This Place, the Upstarts rose to popularity. US fanzine Touch and Go ranked the band number one on their Top 40 list of the month in November 1979. The 1983 album Reason Why? is considered by many to be the group's best.

In the band's early years, Upstarts' concerts often saw violent clashes with right-wing extremist skinheads, who were attracted both by the Oi! music and its working-class symbolism, and by an intermittent playing of Nazi symbols by the band. There were (unsuccessful) attempts of appropriation by the far-right party British National Front, although the band saw itself as part of the (left-wing) workers' movement from the beginning and acted strictly anti-fascist.

In August 2006, Thomas Mensforth was the last founding member to leave the band and Chris White took over on vocals. Decca Wade, also a founding member, returned to the drums. In 2007, Mensforth returned to the band as vocalist.

Style

The Angelic Upstarts are considered pioneers of the Oi! genre. In their early days, the band was influenced by the music of The Clash and the Sex Pistols.