Strength Thru Oi!
| Strength Thru Oi! | ||||
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| Compilation album by various artists | ||||
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Publication |
1981 |
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| Label (s) | Decca Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
22nd |
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running time |
50 min 47 s |
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Strength Thru Oi! is the second Oi! - Sampler from the British music magazine Sounds . It was published by Decca Records and was released in 1981.
History of origin
The predecessor Oi! The album was released a year earlier and appeared at the height of the new skinhead and Oi! Movement. The successor should surpass the success of the first part. As with the predecessor, Garry Bushell was responsible for design and band selection.
The album caused a stir and controversy because of the record cover and the provocative title. Strength Thru Oi! was the National Socialist "Community Kraft durch Freude (" English. "strength through joy") ajar. On his website, Bushell commented on the title of the compilation:
"I take full responsibility for 'Strength Thru Oi'. I gave the album its title. But it was never knowingly a pun on the Nazi slogan Strength Through Joy. Let's be honest, who knew? How many people my age were that up on Third Reich sloganeering? The Skids had released an ep called Strength Through Joy earlier that year, and that's what I based the pun on (asked later, Skids singer Richard Jobson - now a dapper TV movie reviewer - said he'd taken it from the Dirk Bogarde 's autobiography). It was either that or The Oi Of Sex which I dismissed as too frivolous. Doh! "
The cover showed the neo-Nazi Nicola Vincenzio "Nicky" Crane, who was notorious for his violent actions and his involvement in the right-wing extremist British Movement party . At the time the album was released, he was serving a multi-year prison sentence for planning and carrying out an assault on black youths on a train platform in Woolwich . The bodybuilder and hooligan Carlton Leach was supposed to be on the cover first, but the photos didn't really convince anyone. Other suggestions were also unsuccessful, so that Bushell was pressed for time. Garry Bushell commented several times on the album cover and stated in 1996 in the book “Oi! The Book Vol. 1 ":
“So I suggested we take the Last Resort Christmas card motif. The map was very small so I couldn't see who was actually shown. (...) We didn't realize that it was Nick Crane until the album cover was finished. "
The photo was from skinhead photographer Martin Dean. To avoid further delays, Crane retouched the Nazi tattoos and released the album featuring the nationwide neo-Nazi. The album had been in the market for about two months when the first reviews hit. The Daily Mail reported on the compilation in one issue and revealed the identity of the cover model. At the same time, the Southall riots broke out , in which skinheads who had just come out of an Oi! Bowing to public pressure, Decca Records withdrew the album just before it entered the UK Top 50.
“ Decca Records deeply regrets and condemns the incident on Friday night in Southhall and as a consequence we have decided to cancel the record. It is evident that there is a connection between sharing the music and violence, and this is extremely undesirable. "
There are no right-wing extremist lyrics on the album, the line-up of the CD consists of bands from the left and apolitical part of the Oi! Scene. In addition to well-known bands, there are also poems by British street poets Garry Johnson and Barney Rubble . The album is concluded by "The Shaven Heads" with the a cappella piece Harbor Mafia Mantra . It is the drunken singing of several skinheads from the London scene.
meaning
Like its predecessor, this compilation is one of the most important releases on the Oi! Scene in the 1980s. The short time that the album was available makes the original LP a sought-after rarity. Strength Thru Oi! has been reissued several times, including a different artwork.
Among other things, the title was used by the Federal German Office for the Protection of the Constitution to derive a very idiosyncratic origin theory of the term Oi !, which derives the word origin solely from this sampler title and the association with the National Socialist organization. Against this background, all sound carriers and bands in Germany that use the term Oi! used, moved into a right-wing extremist / neo-Nazi context. In the meantime, however, the protection of the constitution has moved away from this thesis.
Track list
- Garry Johnson: National Service - 1:03
- The 4 Skins : 1984 - 2:12
- The Strike : Gang Warfare - 2:16
- Infa-Riot : Riot Riot - 1:35
- Garry Johnson: Dead End Yobs - 1:27
- The Last Resort : Working Class Kids - 2:54
- Criminal Class : Blood on the Streets - 2:45
- The Toy Dolls : She Goes To Fino’s - 3:17
- Barney Rubble: Best Years of Our Lives - 0:32
- Cock Sparrer : Taken For a Ride (We Think You Don't) - 2:03
- Infa-Riot: We Outnumber You - 2:46
- Garry Johnson: The New Face of Rock'n'Roll - 1:12
- Barney Rubble: Beans - 0:06
- Splodge : We're Pathetique - 2:18
- The 4 Skins: Sorry - 3:10
- Cock Sparrer: Running Riot - 3:13
- The Last Resort: Johnny Barden - 3:51
- Splodge: Isubaleene (Part 2) -3:24
- Criminal Class: Running Away - 2:30
- The Strike: Skinhead - 2:03
- The Toy Dolls: Deidre's a Slag - 4:19
- The Shaven Heads: Harbor Mafia Mantra (An Acapella Delight) - 1:41
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Oi! - The Truth by Garry Bushell ( July 28, 2007 memento on WebCite )
- ↑ Matthias Mader: Oi! The Book Vol. 1. Berlin 1993, p. 131.
- ↑ a b Klaus Farin: Urban Rebels. In: The Skins. Myth and Reality. Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86153-136-4 , pp. 44-45.
- ^ Searchlight, Antifaschistisches Infoblatt, Enough is Enough, rat (Ed.): White Noise. Right-wing rock, skinhead music, blood & honor - insights into the international neo-Nazi music scene. (= series of anti-fascist texts). Unrast Verlag, Hamburg / Münster 2000, ISBN 3-89771-807-3 .