East London, UK · oi! · punk

Cock Sparrer

1 upcoming festival

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!. 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 band's early records went largely unnoticed at the time, but albums including Shock Troops 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. They have continued to perform with much of the original lineup intact.

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