The Exploited: Punks Not Dead (splatter vinyl) [CAPTAIN OI!]

Why you'll love it

Captain Oi! has the Exploited's debut back on splatter vinyl. It went to No. 20 on the UK chart in May 1981, was the top-selling independent UK record of the year, and is still one of the defining Oi! and street punk albums.

This edition

• Splatter vinyl
• Captain Oi! pressing (cat# AHOYLPX410)
• 15 tracks, the original running order

About the album

By 1981 a good part of the music press had decided punk was over and that everyone should move on to new wave and post-punk. Wattie Buchan and his band from Edinburgh took this personally. Punks Not Dead is their reply: fifteen songs, most of them under three minutes, built on Big John Duncan's guitar, Gary McCormack's bass and Dru Stix's drums, with Buchan bellowing over the top. They produced it with Dave Leaper for Secret Records, and the songs come straight from the street: "Army Life" draws on Buchan's time as a teenage soldier in Belfast, "Dole Q" and "S.P.G." are exactly what they sound like, and "Exploited Barmy Army" was written for the crowd to shout back.

The record sold enough to reach the national chart, which, for a record this loud on a small independent label, was quite the statement. A tour with Anti-Nowhere League built the following, and bands like The Business picked up the baton. It is short, loud and very sure of itself, and the title has rather won the argument.

Tracklist

Listen

On Captain Oi! (cat# AHOYLPX410), a reissue of the 1981 album.