Carry On Oi!
Released 1982
Secret Records

1. Gary Johnson – United
2. JJ All Stars – Dambusters March
3. The Business – Suburban Rebels
4. Infa Riot – Each Dawn I Die
5. The Partisans – Arms Race
6. The Ejected – East End Kids
7. Peter & The Test Tube Babies – Transvestite
8. Blitz – Nation On Fire
9. Last Resort – King Of The Jungle
10. The Gonads – Tuckers Ruckers Ain’t No Suckers
11. 4 Skins – Evil
12. The Business – Product
13. Red Alert – SPG
14. Oi The Comrade – Guvnors Man
15. Peter & The Test Tube Babies – Maniac
16. The Ejected – What Am I Gonna Do
17. The Partisans – No U Turns
18. Blitz – Youth
19. Oi The Choir – Walk On

Back in tenth grade I had to take a health class, standard requirement. Along with English, and P.E. My health teacher, Ms. O’Brien, was an old hippie who lived in Venice, and wore tie-dye to class.

At that time I didn’t care for her. I was a punk, she was a hippie. And she always talked about feelings, and eating natural things, and it bugged the shit out of me.

One day in class she started talking about how different cultures had different levels of body hair, and went around the room asking everybody to lift up their pant legs, and show how much leg hair they had. I refused. Not that I’m shy, but this was too fucking weird for me. I received no credits for that day.

So, this is what went on for the semester, she would do something harebrained, and I would rebel. One day she asked us to write a poem about health, the earth, or the environment. I can write poetry, but I had been digging in my heels this long, why stop now? I decided I would write a song, a basic rock song instead. I wrote the lyrics, and the melody, then my friend Mark showed up to class with an electric guitar and his amp. The song was called Growing Up. It was a real basic view of life from a fifteen year old. Real basic lyrics: “The hands on the clock are speeding away, this one moment will never stay, don’t blink your eyes you’ll be taller than yesterday.” Yeah, I was a regular Lord Byron. Anyway, the class loved it, they all clapped, and Mark managed to get some kind of extra credit, and the teacher gave me an A.

This is pretty much how it went that semester, I would receive an assignment. And then I would decide how I would do it, then do it well, but it would never be what I was told to do.

So, one day she’s lecturing about the benefits of the four food groups, at the end of the lecture she tells us that the assignment, that night, is to create a poster based on the four food groups. Again, I went to work on deciding what I wanted to do.

I pulled out my blue art-tackle box, that I still own to this day. And I found an old rubber stamp kit, and stamped out the heading, “An Apple A Day . . .” Then sketched Darby Crash holding an apple. Colored everything in with markers. I know I used an old photo as reference for Darby, but I don’t know where it is. The original photo had Darby holding a microphone, instead of the apple – obviously.

The next day everyone turned in his or her posters, I waited until last, and when she called on me I brought my picture up. Her eyes bugged, but a couple of my classmates came over to check it out and they all liked it. They were not punks, but dug the overall look of the picture.

The whole point behind the picture was like me being in the class, I didn’t belong there. She was off on another universe, a universe I didn’t understand. So, by doing the picture, it was like my response to the class, a noted heroin junkie (Darby, not me) promoting apples, and good health. Another strange contradiction.

Anyway, just like with my song, the class’ reaction scored me an A. Without them, I think I would’ve failed.

At this point in life I would probably get along with Ms. O’Brien well, but back then, I was rebelling against the world. Her hippie lifestyle was like a red cape in front of a bull.

Good times.

On to the review . . .

Somewhere around 1982, I picked up a copy of Punk & Disorderly, a pretty cool British comp, released in America by Posh Boy. This is one of my all-time favorite comps. Through this comp I fell in love with Oi, and based on this one cut on the album I totally got into Blitz.

The Blitz track on Carry On Oi! isn’t the best Blitz song, but hey, they couldn’t all be homeruns. During the early part of the 1980’s I bought quite a few Oi comps, and I got to notice that a lot of them were shit. Oi was the new trend and they threw a bunch of vinyl out there that should never have been released. That said, there were always one or two gems. Or at least you would discover a new band.

If you get the chance give it a listen.
Rating: ** *** two out of five stars.

Currently:
Reading: South of No North by Charles Bukowski
Listening: Rancid – Let The Dominoes Fall
Watching: The Transporter directed by Louis Leterrier, Corey Yuen

Free & legal download of the week: Tim Armstrong – Wake Up: http://www.epitaph.com/media/download/audio/875