The only new song, ‘Stockwell’, covered the de Menezes murder, showing the band’s social conscience remained intact, and ‘If The Kids Are United’ was still a call to arms. The constant shouts of “Jimmy, Jimmy” showed the front man remained an inspiration to the, now shirtless, forty-somethings except for the solitary heckler who was put in his place with a choice Anglo-Saxon response from Pursey. This and ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ exemplified the Sham sound created by Pursey and guitarist Dave Parsons – catchy hooks, chugging guitar and anthemic lyrics fanfares for the common man, perfectly crafted for disenfranchised teenagers and football terrace troublemakers alike.
Few words were spoken between songs but ‘Rip Off’ was dedicated to the Olympics and ‘Borstal Breakout’, introduced as a folk song, saw the already hectic mosh pit absolutely explode. The Hersham herberts had all aged well, as had the string of punk rock classics still delivered with passion. It was the 1977 line-up (minus drummer Mark Cain) that took to the stage where Pursey sprayed the crowd with water as they launched into a blistering ‘What Have We Got’, followed by ‘I Don’t Wanna’ and ‘Ulster’ from their debut John Cale-produced EP.
Sham 69 continues to tour in this new line up.With most original punk bands that are still active relegated to playing scruffy pub venues, it was a surprise to find Sham 69 not only playing, but selling out Concorde 2. In 2006 Jimmy Pursey left Sham 69, leaving guitarist Dave Parsons to carry on with a new singer. The song was based on the Sham 69 hit, "Hurry Up Harry", and instead of the lyric being, "We're going down the pub", it was changed to, "We're going to win the cup!" The resulting single, "Hurry Up England" reached number 10 in the UK Top 40, becoming the band's first such hit for over 26 years. In 2006, Virgin Radio listeners voted overwhelmingly for Jimmy Pursey to record a song to support England in the FIFA World Cup. Blair / We know you care / So bring them home / Don't leave them there", referring to the troops remaining in Iraq after the the 2003 invasion. As a result of this, they were invited onto BBC TV's current affairs programme, Newsnight to sing a version of the song.
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The band gained further media attention when "If The Kids Are United" was played during UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's entrance at the 2005 Labour Party Conference. View Dave Parsons’ profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. Pursey is a vegetarian, and appeared in the UK media condemning the use of one of his songs by what - he saw - as a multi-national animal and human abuser. It was released on the Polydor label backed by the. "If The Kids Are United" was used in a McDonald's advertising campaign, long after the rights to their songs had been sold. Angels With Dirty Faces was co-written by lead vocalist Jimmy Pursey and guitarist Dave Parsons. Pursey resurrected Sham 69 in the 1990s with a different line-up, but without major success. Dave Treganna joined the pioneering 1980s glam-punk-Gothic band, The Lords of the New Church, with Stiv Bators of The Dead Boys and Brian James of The Damned.
Pursey moved in a heavy metal direction after working with the remaining members of the Sex Pistols for a short time, under the name Sham Pistols. Sham 69 broke up after their fourth album. They then started to move away from punk rock into a sound heavily influenced by classic British hard rock bands such as Mott The Hoople, The Who and The Faces, evidenced on their third album, The Adventures of the Hersham Boys.
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The latter came from their second LP and first full studio album, That's Life. Their major label debut was "Borstal Breakout" in January 1978, followed by UK singles chart success with "Angels With Dirty Faces" (reaching number 19 in May 1978), "If The Kids Are United" (number 9 in July 1978), and "Hurry Up Harry" (number 10 in October 1978). Sham 69 released their first single, "Ulster", on Step Forward Records in August 1977, and its success in the independent charts prompted Polydor to sign the band. Their concerts were notoriously plagued by violence, and the band ceased live performances after one of their gigs at Middlesex Polytechnic in 1978 was broken up by National Front skinheads fighting and rushing the stage. The band had a large skinhead and hooligan following, which helped set the tone for the Oi! movement. Sham 69 lacked the art school background of many rock bands of the time, and brought in football chants, drinking songs and a sort of inarticulate political populism.