The 4 Skins
The Albums CapTaIn OI!
The 4 Skins were ensnared by controversy during their initial brief fiveyear career, and several line-up changes. Most of the press around the skinhead Oi! movement at the turn of the 80s was in Sounds at the behest of future Sun columnist Garry Bushell and centred on accusations/denials of links to far-right white power organisations. Fans claimed it was more popular than ever given credit for.
The 4 Skins were held to be the best of a (mostly) bad bunch. Most of the songs on this four-CD retrospective are guttural, nihilistic, churning and three-chord basic. Lyrics emphasised the band’s white working-class roots from the East
End of London, in football and as followers of bands such as Sham 69. Wonderful World. City Boy.
Evil. Jack The Lad. Lyrics spat out with scorn and disdain. There was a war on the streets, and
Oi! bands like the 4 Skins were determined not to lose turf.
1982’s relatively sophisticated debut The Good, The Bad And The 4 Skins features vocalist Panther emulating an emotional Jimmy Pursey. There is an album’s worth of tracks (The Original 4 Skins) starring original singer Gary Hodges and No.4 indie chart single One Law For Them. This one’s as raw as they come. There is also the second album, and ‘banned’ live album From Chaos To 1984. A mess of noise, aggression and frustration, roughly articulated.