The Sex Pistols and The Clash may have inspired gangs of art school kids to
dress up in bondage gear and stick safety pins through their noses when they
kick-started the British punk scene in the late 1970s, but it was Sham 69 who
captured the boisterous, beer-swilling spirit of the terraces and built a large
skinhead following. Taking their name from a faded piece of graffiti that
celebrated their local football team Walton & Hersham's 1969 league triumph,
motormouth front man Jimmy Pursey spoke to the downtrodden, working class youth
with forthright, in-yer-face sloganeering an...