Album: Hypnotised
Artist: The Undertones
Born: Derry, Northern Ireland
Released: January 1980
Genre: Punk Pop
Influenced: U2, Smiths, Happy Mondays, Pulp, Blur, Libertines
Against a backdrop of massing hordes of art school kids experimenting in post-punk in the late 70s, the Undertones were a huge breath of fresh air. With their down-to-earth approach and pop sensibilities, they created their very own unique brand of punk music that was popularised by the wonderful Belfast label, Good Vibrations. The first song on Hypnotised, More Songs About Chocolate & Girls, is a cheeky reference to the Talking Heads' second album that underlines the anti-intellectual approach of the Undertones. That's not to say that John O'Neill's songwriting isn't the match of David Byrne or any other art school kid, in fact it's often wittier and more keenly observed. Again, John Peel was an instrumental figure in bringing a non-London band to a wider audience, playing Teenage Kicks on air not once but twice in a row in 1978, when other DJs wouldn't play it all. Though Hypnotised doesn't contain Teenage Kicks, it does have two brilliant singles that explore similar territory of adolescent emotion, Wednesday Week and My Perfect Cousin. The hilarious lyrics in the latter are one of the finest moments in pop history, with one verse poking fun at the emerging synthpop scene (see the Human League reference) and the "art school boys". The fact a band from one of the most troubled places on the planet was churning out catchy pop tunes about teenage angst makes it all even more glorious. Like Blondie and the Buzzcocks, the Undertones bridged the divide between punk and pop.
I do love the first Undertones album, but rate the songwriting on Hypnotised higher. On the album opener, the band deal with their fame and the difficult second album with self-deprecating lyrics ("our teenage dreams / they’re surely worth a mention"). After a song about some suspicious guy called Norman, the title track Hypnotised is the record's first highlight, with its brilliant guitar work by Damian O'Neill and Michael Bradley (who both wrote the song) and catchy chorus. See That Girl is a familiar song about teenage longing, which John O'Neill captures so well, enhanced by Feargal Sharkey's plaintive, high register voice. Whizz Kids ups the pace, while the cover of Under The Boardwalk is magnificent and Hard Luck (which has an even better B-side version) is notable for rhyming Beanos and Veno's. Side 2 is the pinnacle of the Undertones' recording output, with super singles My Perfect Cousin and Wednesday Week mixed with equally brilliant album tracks like Tearproof and What's With Terry? (another great Sharkey vocal performance, even if the lyrics are borderline nasty). Few bands distilled the limited emotional range of adolescent boys so well on record and none has pulled out it off with such panache and humour.
Against a backdrop of massing hordes of art school kids experimenting in post-punk in the late 70s, the Undertones were a huge breath of fresh air. With their down-to-earth approach and pop sensibilities, they created their very own unique brand of punk music that was popularised by the wonderful Belfast label, Good Vibrations. The first song on Hypnotised, More Songs About Chocolate & Girls, is a cheeky reference to the Talking Heads' second album that underlines the anti-intellectual approach of the Undertones. That's not to say that John O'Neill's songwriting isn't the match of David Byrne or any other art school kid, in fact it's often wittier and more keenly observed. Again, John Peel was an instrumental figure in bringing a non-London band to a wider audience, playing Teenage Kicks on air not once but twice in a row in 1978, when other DJs wouldn't play it all. Though Hypnotised doesn't contain Teenage Kicks, it does have two brilliant singles that explore similar territory of adolescent emotion, Wednesday Week and My Perfect Cousin. The hilarious lyrics in the latter are one of the finest moments in pop history, with one verse poking fun at the emerging synthpop scene (see the Human League reference) and the "art school boys". The fact a band from one of the most troubled places on the planet was churning out catchy pop tunes about teenage angst makes it all even more glorious. Like Blondie and the Buzzcocks, the Undertones bridged the divide between punk and pop.
I do love the first Undertones album, but rate the songwriting on Hypnotised higher. On the album opener, the band deal with their fame and the difficult second album with self-deprecating lyrics ("our teenage dreams / they’re surely worth a mention"). After a song about some suspicious guy called Norman, the title track Hypnotised is the record's first highlight, with its brilliant guitar work by Damian O'Neill and Michael Bradley (who both wrote the song) and catchy chorus. See That Girl is a familiar song about teenage longing, which John O'Neill captures so well, enhanced by Feargal Sharkey's plaintive, high register voice. Whizz Kids ups the pace, while the cover of Under The Boardwalk is magnificent and Hard Luck (which has an even better B-side version) is notable for rhyming Beanos and Veno's. Side 2 is the pinnacle of the Undertones' recording output, with super singles My Perfect Cousin and Wednesday Week mixed with equally brilliant album tracks like Tearproof and What's With Terry? (another great Sharkey vocal performance, even if the lyrics are borderline nasty). Few bands distilled the limited emotional range of adolescent boys so well on record and none has pulled out it off with such panache and humour.
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