332 Hello Feargal Sharkey , John O Neill and Damian O Neill* - Teenage KIcks

(*as  part  of  the  Undertones )

Chart  entered  : 21 October  1978

Chart  peak : 31 ( 60  on  reissue  in  1983 )

Number  of   hits : Feargal   17  ( 9  with  The  Undertones, 1  with  The  Assembly, 7 solo ) ; John  13  ( 9  with  The  Undertones , 3 with  That  Petrol  Emotion, 1 with  Rare );  Damian 16  ( 9  with  The  Undertones, 7  with  That  Petrol  Emotion )

Poor  Michael  Bradley  and  Billy  Doherty  don't  make  it  as  The  Undertones  stalled  at  nine  hits  with  the  other  three  getting  over  the  line  through  their  subsequent  work.

The  Undertones  first  got  together  as  five  teenage  friends  in  Londonderry  in  1975, Feargal  Sharkey  ( born  1958 ), John  O'Neill  ( born  1957 ), the  two  guys  mentioned  above  and  John's  brother  Vincent. Before  they'd  played  any  gigs  Vincent  dropped  out  and  was  replaced  by  another  brother  , Damian  O' Neill  ( born  1961 ).  Initially  called  the  Hot  Rods  until  Doherty  suggested  The  Undertones  they  were  a  covers  band  playing  schools  and  youth  clubs  until  punk  exploded.  This  inspired  the band  to  start  writing  their  own  material  and   they  secured  a  residency  at  the  Casbah  Club.

As  their  confidence  grew  they  recorded  a  demo  tape  at  Magee  University   in  March  1978  for  sending  to  record  companies. No  label  bit  but  they  got  a  reply  from  John  Peel  offering  to  pay  for  a  proper  recording  session. The  result was  a  four  track  EP   named  after  its  main  song  "Teenage  Kicks"  on  the  small  Good  Vibrations  label. Peel  immediately  began  lauding  it  as  the  greatest  song  he'd  ever  heard  and  Sire  Records  became   interested. After  some  haggling  by  the  business-savvy  Feargal  they  were  signed  up  and  the  rights  to  the  EP  with  them. Sire  then  re-released  it  as  it  was  although  "Teenage  Kicks"  was  very  much  the  A-side. Guinness  doesn't  record  it  as  an  EP.

Famously  "Teenage  Kicks", written  by  John ,  is  about  masturbation  with  the  original  lyric  reading  "I  wanna  hold  it  tight " .  It  captures  the  sheer  frustration  of  a  teenager  lusting  over  an  unobtainable  girl   through  the  taut  quaver  of  Feargal's  voice  to  the  simple  slamming    three  chord  riff  running  through  the  song.  There  are  only  two  verses  so  the  song  so  it  basically  gets  run  through  twice.  The  rudimentary  guitar  solo  which  appears  late  in  the  day  seems  like  an  afterthought. For  the  sound  of  provincial  young  punk   there  is  no  better  example  and  they  looked  like  a  bunch  of  joyriders  to  boot.  One  thing  still  intrigues  me  though, what  exactly  does  Feargal  sing  at  the  end  of  each  chorus  after  "through  the  night " ?