December 31, 2014
As a Londoner, and an old punk rocker, punk songs that mention areas of London have always held a special place in my heart.
Some might quibble that not all the songs in my top 10 are strictly speaking ‘punk rock’. Well, I’m using a pretty loose definition of punk for this post. So, Squeeze, for an example, can be included because they were heavily influenced by the ethic and attitude of punk, if not particularly punk-like in sound.
Whatever, it’s my blog and I’ll include who I want.
Another quibble might be the omission of ‘London Calling’ by The Clash. Well, it was a toss up between that and ‘White Man’, both are superb but the latter is my favourite so gets in on the list.
Anyway, the Last Gang wrote almost a zillion tracks about London, more about that in another post.
My intention is to write separate posts on each song and talk about the track and what it meant to me then as a snotty-nosed punk rocker, and what it means to me now as an old-snotty-nosed punk rocker.
Hope you enjoy the series!
The top ten
The list below is not in order of preference, though if I had to pick a favourite it would be jointly the Leyton Buzzards and the Clash, I’ll go in to reasons why later on in the individual posts.
- Pinpoint – Richmond (West London)
- TV Personalities – Part Time Punks (West London)
- The Clash – White Man (in Hammersmith Palais) (West London)
- The Decorators – Red Skies Over Wembley – (North west London)
- Adam and the Antz – Fall In (North London)
- The Leyton Buzzards – Saturday Night (Beneath the Plastic Palmtrees) (North east London)
- Cockney Rejects – East End (East London)
- 999 – Tulse Hill Night (South London)
- Squeeze – Up the Junction – (South London)
- Menace – GLC – (Central London)
So, who have I missed out?
Who would get into your top 10 London punk songs?
