It's early 1980 in the UK and 'entertainment' on a Saturday night (or any other night of the week) consists of sitting around at home watching crap on TV or sitting around in a bus shelter drinking cider or sniffing glue. Unless, of course, you're old enough to drink in the same pub as your dad. Oh the thrill of it all! Punk rock is all you have. It's your lifeblood, the only thing that makes sense and the only thing to look forward to in a world with 'no future'. And it's fucking exciting! The next single, the next gig, the volume coursing through your veins to remind you that you're alive. The only option, is to give to punk rock what it has given to you -- everything! If you're going to be unemployed, then be unemployable! If you're going to get beaten up, then go down fighting! If you've got something to say, then shout it! And most of all, if you're going to be in an obnoxious punk rock band, then be in a really obnoxious punk band!
This was the route chosen by ex-squaddie Wattie Buchan (vocals), Big John Duncan (guitar), Dru Stix (drums) and Gary McCormack (bass). Right from the start (early 1980, if you were paying attention) there was no toning these Edinburgh punks down, no diluting their music for public consumption. The Exploited were punk rock.
The Exploited History
Riot starting, bouncer bashing, cop baiting, hotel trashing, foul talking, noise making, chaos causing, venue wrecking, government hating, rule breaking, piss taking, unrelenting, punk rocking. Clearly we're not talking about Pepsi adverts here, or indeed the many so-called punk bands that would gleefully sell themselves to such corporate giants for a palm full of silver. Whoo-hoo! The taste of a generation! Fuck off! Let's get one thing straight: The Exploited are not 'punkers' or any of the other cutesy, watered down, MTV friendly names you might want to call them.
The Exploited are punk rock.
Now it's early 20th century, and the UK is still fucked and at war as America's lapdog, bored kids still wander the streets (smack and designer labels having replaced glue and cider) and The Exploited are just as relevant today as they were in 1980. Punk rock has come to mean so many different things to so many different people. Like an incurable virus the genre has infected the whole world, evolving, mutating (often beyond recognition) and contaminating everything that gets in its path. Fashion, art, comedy, politics and of course, music have all been irrevocably altered by punk rock. Not bad for something that has been pronounced dead more times than Dracula. But to The Exploited punk rock still means everything.
