The Lurkers – Shadow // Love Story (Beggars Banquet) 1977. The Lurkers immortal debut 7inch from 1977. Now here was a band that understood what it is all about. Check out the lead guitar line on Shadow. Can you imagine a guitar being more out of tune? I have to imagine that guitarist Pete Stride was aware of this. He just didn’t care. And you wanna know why? Cuz it sounds kick-ass the way it is. Check out the drumming on Love Story. I think Esso must’ve picked up the sticks the week before. Did that stop him? Fuck no. Point being that this 7inch represents, better than most, the very essence of punk rock. Musical proficiency can actually hinder things. Lyricism too. Greg Graffin has nothing on these lads. And last but not least, look at the cover photo. These guys are up to no good. Seriously, click on the thumbnail and marvel at their sheer thuggishness. Did you know The Lurkers were slagged a lot in the early days for being too much like The Ramones? How can this possibly be a bad thing? As far as I can tell The Lurkers got it right with this and their subsequent releases up to and including Fullham Fallout. So what if the trendsetters didn’t find it relevant. We’re not talking trends here peoples. We’re talking lifestyles. And is it a surprise that this was a request from Bruce “AOD” Wingate? Fuck no! What would you expect him to request? In The Hall of the Mountain King?
Hardcore Podcasts
September of 2010 I put together eight Hardcore Podcasts. You can check them out here if you are interested. For more insight into how I came up with the years 78-90 for the First Wave you can read about The Hardcore Superiorty Myth.
I have it on good authority that Bruce is very much into The Best Kissers In The World.
Jesus, “Shadow”, yet another song The Copulators would have covered. Too bad I left the Duffs when I did. The Copulators would have been a lot of fun.
well ain’t I the belle of the ball! (quick, a mint julep…I’m gettin’ the vapors!) I actually met Arturo from the Lurkers when he was playing in 999. I wrote a song about it…it goes: “The ni-yi-yi-yi-yight I met Arturo from the Lurkers!”
Many thanks for this one – what a fantastic single!
Reminds me of that really snotty bit in the Television Personalities “Part Time Punks”, about how said punks can’t find the Swell Maps single so they “..buy The Lurkers instead”.
TVPs are one of my favourite bands ever (as are Swell Maps for that matter), but that line always really bugs me, because, well, firstly cos it reveals such a sbnobbish, insider attitude, and secondly because clearly the early Lurkers stuff is GREAT, and not that different from where those other bands were coming from…. those instrumental bits on “Shadow” just *destroy*, and, man, that’s MY kind of drumming! I wish I knew someone I could persuade to do that for 40 minutes.
I guess maybe the emnity is less music-based, more to do with the fact The Lurkers look like the kind of guys who’d probably beat up the TVPs after school.
Hey Ben…I bet the Television Personalities loved the Lurkers. I think they were making fun of a certain type of fan. There was nothing trendy about the Lurkers at all and “part time punks” were very trendy no?
We supported them last week here in Lincoln (England), they are still as awesome as ever. Arturo went on to play in Pinpoint, did an excellent song called Richmond. The Lurkers (with Arturo) still do it…and so much better!!