Cock Sparrer

Originally a pint-glass-draining pub rock group, Londoners Cock Sparrer muscled up their sound upon the arrival of the first wave of British Punk. They quickly shot up the ranks, briefly attracting the attention of impresario Malcolm McLaren, and signing an ill-fated record deal with Decca. Their street-level, working class style didn’t fit into a scene dominated by art-school dropouts, however, and it wasn’t until the early '80s that their U.K. debut, SHOCK TROOPS, was released. A new genre, Oi!, rose up, heavily influenced by Cock Sparrer’s rugged sound, and they were embraced as one of its godfathers.