Being a new year, you need to get your motor started right?. A great Ozzie CD stomp comp ‘When Sharpies Ruled – A Vicious Selection’ on Australian Warner Bros is just the ticket. 70s Sharpies were a kind of Australian skinhead but with their own distinct look. There’s a big picture booklet of period photos of them with the CD. Then there’s a second booklet with loads of label shots, band biogs and period sharpie clothing pics etc. The main thing though is that this is solid kick ass rock ‘n’ roll. Banging your head into a brick wall hurts, this comp doesn’t but has the same intensity! Rose Tatoo’s ‘Remedy’ leaves even AC / DC in the shade! Apart from maybe Skyhooks ‘Horror Movie’ (more proto art punk than hard rock) this set is sold throughout. Hear The La De Das like never before! It’s Slade, AD/DC, Geordie, Nazareth, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy et al terrace stomp hard rockin’ chug-a-lug power chords all the way. Not the blues-rock stuff, just prime stomp! More effective than a double expresso in the morning! Play it at your kids / grand-kids so they can hear what ‘dad rock’ should really sound like!
PM


1 –Coloured Balls - Time Shapes 5:08
2 –Finch - Out Of Control 2:19
3 –The La De Das - The Place (Single Edit.)4:26
4 –Coloured Balls - Flash 3:20
5 –Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - Let's Have A Party (RLive At Sunbury1974
6 –Stevie Wright - Hard Road 3:02
7 –Buster Brown Roll Over Beethoven 4:45
8 –Skyhooks - Horror Movie 3:43
9 –Coloured Balls - Love You Babe 3:32
10 –Hush Riff In My Head 3:05
11 –Fat Daddy Roll Daddy Roll 3:01
12 –Ted Mulry Gang - Jump In My Car 2:59
13 - Bullet Rock My Lady 3:33
14 - Hush - Bony Maronie 3:07
15 –Fatty Lumpkin Movin' 3:52
16 –Kevin Borich Express - I'm Goin' Somewhere 3:23
17 –Ted Mulry Gang - Crazy 3:25
18 –Finch Hey Spunky 3:42
19 –Taste -Tickle Your Fancy 2:40
20 –Rabbit - Wildfire 3:00
21 –Supernaut - I Like It Both Ways 3:16
22 –Rose Tattoo - Remedy 2:58
23 –La Femme - Chelsea Kids (Single version) 3:45

Not really a comp of Sharpie music more of a 70s comp. Most of its easily available unless these are all unreleased versions. Can't see anything I don't already have

I'd be interested to see how your ideal sharpie comp differs; who would you include that's not on here? How would they differ mnusically? As I undertand it Coloured Balls for instance were the top of the Sharpie tree muscially. The Status Quo / Slade / Coloured Balls festival bill in (Melbourne?) in 1973 had a huge Sharpie attendance (it's on Youtube or was). The gut-bucket hard rock of the time was the sharpie sound track as far as I've read, but I'd be very willing to be schooled otherwise if you disagree.

Cheers
PM

I'm being a little unfair. Lobby's crew definitely cashed in on the Sharpies despite being very different ideologically. Unlike most other yoof cultures, Sharpie interest in music was more about whether you could do their silly dad dance to it. The fact that the lyrics for so many of the bands they danced to were pro the people the sharpies claimed to despise (& used to physically attack) seems to have passed them by. On the plus side they gave bands like the Hooks, Angels & the Saints (when they went south) a paying audience until they broke nationally. The point I was really making is that the comp title is a bit more of a marketing gimmick than a Sharpie manifesto (as that was more about clothes/hair). Wonder if a certain pen brand is behind it? (joking)

Right, I understand you now. In the comp liners it notes that some Sharpies were just up for a ruck and couldn't care less about the music. Also, obviously, it would not just be Sharpies who were into early hard rock as your point about the lyrics rightly implies. The liner notes also are quite honest about that as well. I have several of the 45s on this comp on others like the vinyl only 'Bonehaed Crunchers' series and a few of the orignal 45s like the Fat Daddy single (both of them actually). Even if they are easy to find though, I don't think they have been assembled in quite this way before which is why I think it makes such a great crunchy comp! It is also very visually interesting as are the notes and essay, so a good all-round sub-cultural time capsule.

PM