Cockney Rejects
History
Cockney Rejects are an Oi! punk band that formed in the East End of London in 1978. Their 1980 song Oi, Oi, Oi was the inspiration for the name of the Oi! music genre. With Oi! being a cockney phrase for “Hey!”.
Cockney Rejects were formed in 1978 by brothers Jeff and Micky Geggus, with their brother-in-law Chris Murrell on bass and Paul Harvey on drums. Their first demo single, Flares n’ Slippers, caught the attention of Small Wonder Records owner Pete Stennett, who introduced the band to Bob Sergeant. With Sergeant, they recorded their single I Wanna Be A Star, which sold out its first pressing. Murrell and Harvey were then replaced by Vince Riordan on bass and Andy Scott on drums, from fellow East End London band, The Tickets. This became known as Cockney Rejects’ classic lineup, and its debut at the Bridge House in Canning Town, London in June 1979 is considered a turning point for the band. In September of that same year, the band signed with EMI and released their album Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 in February 1980.
The 1978 to 1979 line up was Jeff Geggus, AKA Jeff Turner, AKA Stinky Turner on vocals, Mick Geggus on guitar, Chris Murrell bass, and Paul Harvey on drums. In 1979 they had Vince Riordan on bass and Andy Atlas Scott on drums. In 1980 Nigel Woolf was now on drums. The 1980-1983 line up was the still the same but with Keith Stix Warrington on drums. In 1984-85 Vince Riordan was replaced with Ian Campbell on bass.
In 1987 to 1991 the line up returned to Vince Riordan and Keith Warrington on drums. In 1999 Tony Van Frater joined the band replacing Vince Riordan on bass alongside Andrew Laing replacing Keith Warrington on drums. This is actually the current line up also. From 2000 to 2006 saw Les Nobby Cobb on drums.
Their biggest hit single in the 1980’s The Greatest Cockney Rip-Off, was a parody of Sham 69’s song Hersham Boys. Other Cockney Rejects songs were less commercial, partly because they tended to be about hard-edged topics such as street fighting or football hooliganism. .
The violence depicted in their lyrics was often mirrored at their concerts, and the band members often fought to defend themselves (often from supporters of opposing football teams) or to split up conflicts between audience members. Jeff and Mick Geggus (who are brothers) had both been amateur youth boxers, and had fought at the national level.
Cockney Rejects expressed contempt for politicians in their lyrics, and they rejected the left-wing media claims that they had a British Movement following and denied that the band members supported the views of that far right. In their first Sounds interview, they mockingly referred to the British Movement as the German Movement and stated that many of their heroes were black boxers. Jeff Turner’s autobiography Cockney Reject describes an incident in which the band members and their supporters had a massive fight against British Movement members at one of Cockney Rejects’ early concerts.
The band released their most recent album, Unforgiven, on the G&R London independent record label in May 2007. The band members are loyal supporters of West Ham United F.C., and pay tribute to the club with their hit cover version of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles, a song which has been sung by the West Ham supporters at matches since the 1920s.
Discography
Official Productions
1979 – Flares & Slippers 7″, EP – Small Wonder Records – UK
1979 – I’m Not a Fool – 7″ single – EMI – UK
1980 – Bad Man – 7″ – EMI – UK
1980 – The Greatest Cockney Rip Off – 7″ – EMI/Zonophone – UK
1980 – I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles – 7″ – EMI/Zonophone – UK
1980 – Greatest Hits Volume 1 – EMI Records – UK
1980 – We Can Do Anything – 7″ – EMI/Zonophone
1980 – We Are the Firm – 7″ – EMI/Zonophone
1980 – Greatest Hits Volume 2 – EMI / Zonophone
1981 – Greatest Hits Volume 3 – Live & Loud – EMI/Zemaphone – UK
1981 – The Power and the Glory – EMI/Zonophone
1981 – Easy Life – 7″, Live EP – EMI/Zonophone
1981 – On the Streets Again – 7″ – EMI/Zonophone
1982 – The Wild Ones – AKA1
1982 – Till the End of the Day – 7″ – AKA
1984 – Quiet Storm – Heavy Metal Records
1984 – Back to the Start – 7″ – Heavy Metal Records
1985 – Unheard Rejects – Wonderful World Records
1990 – Lethal – Neat Records
1997 – The Punk Singles Collection – Dojo Records – UK
1997 – Greatest Hits Volume 4 – Rhythm Vicar
2000 – Back on the Street – Victory Records (Reissue of Greatest Hits Volume 4)
2003 – Out of the Gutter – Captain Oi Records – UK
2007 – Unforgiven – G&R Records
Live Albums
1981 – Greatest Hits Volume 3 – Live & Loud – EMI/Zemaphone – UK
Samplers
1980 – Oi! The Album
1983 – Total Noise – 7″ EP
1997 – Oi! Oi! Oi! – Castle Records
1997 – Lords Of Oi! – Dressed to Kill Records
2001 – Addicted to Oi!