Sham 69

Jimmy Pursey was a fierce, working-class idealist and avenging angel of the unemployed. Ironically, he sacked most of the original line-up of the band within a year due to their lack of commitment.

A streamlined aggregation featuring Dave Parsons (guitar), Dave Treganna (bass) and Mark Cain (drums) helped Pursey reach the UK charts with a series of hits including Angels With Dirty Faces, If The Kids Are United and Hurry Up Harry.

Pursey's idealistic working class warrior philosophy backfired however as the air-punching Oi!-by-numbers began attracting more and more face-punching neo-Nazi skinheads causing wary promoters to shun the band.

In 1978 the band was sacked from the film Quadrophenia. A spokesman for the film company said it was because the groups two numbers were not satisfactory for dancing. 

After a troubled couple of years attempting to reconcile his ideals and their results, Pursey finally disbanded the group in the summer of 79, only to reform a couple of months later with a final album, The Game. This failed to chart and Jimmy subsequently pursued a low-key solo career.

In 1987 he resurrected Sham 69 releasing a largely ignored LP, Volunteer. Their sound ultimately softened - and went a bit weird, adding a saxophone to their line-up.