The Undertones
(5/100 Greatest Irish Albums)

Dismissed in some misguided quarters as “merely” a bunch of singles with some other stuff to help make up the numbers, The Undertones debut album now sounds as it did back then, like a unique collection of rampant and furious stabs of instant, sunny, funny, glorious pop.
Billy Doherty’s fab fivesome roared out of Derry having heard the call of the Sex Pistols and, with the help of John Peel’s legendary assistance, launched themselves on an unprepared British punk-pop market with all the subtlety of exocet missiles, banging on about such crucial global topics as acne and not being able to find girlfriends.
Fergal Sharkey’s shrill angelic tenor vocal gave them a clear identity, and they played with all the wayward fury of lads who had to be back home before ten and their lyrics dripped with adolescent adrenalin. Packaged in a suitably poxy sleeve, The Undertones’ sparkling debut contains such gems as ‘Family Entertainment’, a sinister tale of incest.
The “ooh baby baby’s” that intro ‘Here Comes The Summer’ reek of teenage sex, and when Fergal sang ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ on the telly he made a whole sub-species of humanity feel that wearing jumpers was as cool as fuck. Some claim The Undertones were the best band ever to come out of Northern Ireland, and this scintillating debut offers compelling evidence to that effect.