You can almost draw a parallel between SHARPS in the late '80s-early '90s and straightedge kids from the same era. Self-righteous assholes, basically.

I thought about mentioning the backgrounds of certain Templars members, but I decided not to. It felt too preemptively defensive. Like, "Hey, not all Oi! is racist! Sometimes black dudes make it!"

Last Resort is the perfect example of Oi! mediocrity.

Amateur English boxers? I'm shitting my pants.

To me, omitting "All Skrewed Up" is easy. Technically speaking, it's punk, not Oi!. It predated Oi!, and it wasn't popular enough at the time to have that huge of an influence on the first wave of Oi! (especially not like the other proto-Oi! bands, e.g. Sham, did). Great record? Absolutely. Essential to understanding…

I hear you. I have a hard time squaring it in my head, too. I also happen to like Burzum. But politically, I'm a total pinko. I have a really sick sense of humor, I guess?

I really don't want to get dragged into discussion about Skrewdriver, but I will agree with what highnumber is saying above. The original, nonracist incarnation of Skrewdriver existed before Oi! really became a thing. And the later incarnation of the band didn't come about until the first big bang of Oi! had already…

That's what a G2G is: The best place to start, which is often the biggest acts. It's all about putting them in context and explaining exactly why those are good places to start. And there's only so much room this format allows: If I included more obscure groups, it would be at the cost of, say, Cock Sparrer. And then…

And that's exactly what I love about it.

Thanks! Sorry I couldn't sneak a Toy Dolls mention in there for you…

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place is a classic album. Solid.

"Let's Go" is the closest thing to an Oi! album Rancid ever did. "Wolves" really branched out from there, but still, there's a reason I included "Avenues & Alleyways" above: It's a full-on Oi! song, from the intro to the choruses to everything in between.

As someone who also adores both reggae and bluegrass, I have to say: Invest some more time, and the variety will become apparent. And well worth it.

The first three Sham albums are solid, wall-to-wall hook-fests. Great playing, great singing, great lyrics, great production. Boggles my mind that they get so overlooked.

Sleep on them? I've loved 'em for over 20 years. As I mentioned above, though: not really Oi!.

Good question. I first started hearing it in the '90s — and as mentioned above, it was a total euphemism that basically meant "apolitical Oi!". But it pretty quickly became its own thing — not just a lack of politics, but a rejection of the uniform. Then people started retroactively applying it to certain '70s and…

Love the Upstarts, but yeah, they kind of skirted the edges of Oi!.

Not to mention the complete Hard Skin discography. What does it say about Oi! that one of the genre's best latter-day bands is an intentional joke? (Don't answer that.)

I totally had to resist the urge to sneak in a bunch of extraneous mentions of Oi! parody songs (including The Vandals and NOFX).

Not meant as a dig — I love both Rancid and Dropkick Murphys. And while Al came from an Oi! background in the The Bruisers before he replaced Mike, Dropkick Murphys never really were an Oi! band.