East London, UK · oi! · punk

Cock Sparrer

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Fifty years of working-class anthems, and still the band that closes a punk festival better than anyone — 'Because You're Young' guarantees wet eyes in the pit.

Cock Sparrer formed in the East End of London in 1972, predating punk itself, and became one of the enduring names in British street punk and oi!. The founding members, Colin McFaull, Mick Beaufoy, Steve 'Burge' Burgess and Steve Bruce, had known each other since childhood, and the band's name comes from Cock Sparrow, a cockney term of familiarity.

Their songs deal with work, loyalty, ageing and the pub, delivered with sung choruses and a pub-rock sense of melody that separated them from faster, harsher contemporaries. The sound draws on pub rock, glam rock and raw 1960s beat music in the mould of the Small Faces and the Who.

Malcolm McLaren considered managing the band alongside the Sex Pistols before they signed to Decca in 1977. Early singles, including 'Runnin' Riot' and a cover of the Rolling Stones' 'We Love You', sold poorly, and Decca dropped them the following year. An album recorded at the time only appeared in Spain, and was not issued in Britain until 1987, as True Grit.

The band split in 1978 and reformed in 1982, when renewed interest in their old material on Oi! compilations brought them back together. Shock Troops, released in 1983, built their reputation over the following decades, and songs such as 'Because You're Young' and 'England Belongs to Me' became standards of the genre. Lineup changes followed through the eighties and nineties, with albums including Guilty as Charged and Two Monkeys.

They have continued to perform with much of the original lineup intact, marking their fortieth anniversary in 2012 with a run of sold-out shows in the United States alongside Rancid.

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