Sharps are hated because they're so single-minded and douchey about the whole anti-racist thing. They'll do shit like put up posters (or nowadays start websites) labeling someone a nazi just because of a t-shirt they were wearing (seriously, this happened to a friend of mine over a Condemned 84 t-shirt. Condemned 84…

The gang initiation shit seems to be mostly an american thing, and more common, of course, among boneheads.
Violence, however, was always a part of it.

The Business are always worth seeing live. They came out my way last summer, put on two great shows and Bundy (the drummer) and Martin (the bassist) were the most fun dudes to party with, ever.

9 or 10 years ago, when I was more of a dick (and from a town where skins and punks did NOT get along), I was visiting another city and met a crusty punk busking. Like an asshole, I started hassling him about this that and the other, and he just grinned and started playing Chaos. I ended up throwing a five into his…

Last Resort is a perfect example of shit that's dumb and kind of terrible, but when you're a 19 year-old kid, pissed up on cheap beer, it's perfect- Simple, aggressive, and noisy as hell.

Unfortunately, Oxblood's lineup has changed and they've since started leaning in the typical idiotic american skinhead direction of "We're not racist, we just hate immigrants! And by immigrants, we mean the nonwhite ones."

Not true at all. The early skins were into jamaican music, and being mostly poor, likely would've lived in the same areas as a lot of the jamaican immigrants, but the first skins were not jamaicans. That's some goofy SHARP revisionism.

Definitely need to listen to Cock Sparrer. Fast-paced, good time sing-along rock and roll.
The Cockney Rejects, too, if only for their cover of Bubbles.
Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure where the idea of oi being slow comes from at all… The big name bands (In my mind, it's all about Sparrer, the Rejects and…

If there were a buddy-cop movie starring Sly Stone, I would watch the shit out of that.
Sly Stallone, not so much.

I just bought a copy of the 12" single two days ago online. Not sure if I'm gonna end up playing it at my soul nights, but I'll be happy to have it in case I feel adventurous.

I've been part of skinhead culture for a dozen years- Nowadays I lean more towards reggae and soul collecting than Oi and punk rock, but I loved Oi when I was young and still listen to the better stuff (Flying to Vegas in May to see the greatest of them all, Cock Sparrer). Dropkick Murphys, all that US stuff, man, I…

Davej, I think you're right about 60's garage. 60's-style Soul has started getting slightly big the last couple years (Winehouse, Duffy, Adele, and even the movie Blue Valentine had an obscure old soul tune played quite prominently in it), and I've noticed as a soul/reggae DJ more and more people getting into that old…

I would hazard a guess that they are not… I've met very few people who know anything about it besides skinheads (or ex-skinheads) themselves.

Another good one is the Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself."
Comes in all smooth and nice, with Pop singing… Then that second verse, Mavis just rips it out! One hell of a groove being laid down there.

Taylor had some good stuff, but nothing he ever did can come NEAR Cooke… Especially his live album. Many people have mentioned it already, as have I, but it bears repeating: Live at the Harlem Square club is a goddamned incredible record. I found a 1983 reissue of it a few weeks ago and felt blessed even just for…

I love the Stax logo, and thought about getting the tattoo, but I don't know how good it'd look as a tattoo.

FidelAstro- "I'm a Stax man, but some of my favourite records of all time have been released on Motown."

Truth. I've made a habit of making any girl I start dating watch it with me… If she doesn't like it, we're not really meant to be.

Whoooooah I just watched that. That is some seriously fucked up shit! Makes "Canteen Boy" look kind of tame.

Bam! Heard that on the Wattstax film, went out and found a copy of the best of Johnnie Taylor- That song gets played at every soul night I do.
Taylor's other great one is "Jody's GotYour Girl and Gone" although the studio version pales in comparison to the Wattstax performance.