To the haters from other teams who said we'd never do it:

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

It seemed the problem was when people came to see him, especially plodders from the sticks, they expected him to be some kind of chirpy, lovable cockney geezer type and the real man was not that. Mistakenly referring to him as Ian Drury, a common error, would invoke a particularly unpleasant response. It's the same problem comedians have when confronted by fans away from the stage. Let's downgrade him from nasty piece of work to 'a little difficult to deal with.'

He did have a valid excuse, no? That mental health thing he didn't like to make a big issue of. They kept asking him to do a song for a mental health charity but he didn't want to. So when he finally agreed he did Spasticus Autisticus.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

My brother 'arrested' Ian Dury once. Bro was in the Met. They were called to a disturbance at a house where there was a party and a very out of his skull ID was trying to get in and wouldn't go away. So they chucked him in the meat wagon. On the way to the station they got their truncheons out and sang 'Hit me with your rhythm stick' which Dury found really funny apparently. They popped him in a cell overnight to sleep it off then sent him on his way in the morning.

That's brilliant.

[IUFG]

Ian Dury was amazing.* Billericay Dickie is one of my fave tunes. Especially since we've moved to the Isle of Thanet. Rhyming seasoned-up hyaena with obscener is up there with a smacked-up Coleridge.

But speaking of his voice, I only really got into Cock Sparrer recently since I could watch these recent live videos online. Cos on the records back in the day, he's got this really whiny, nasal voice.

I always loved Sham 69. Hurry Up Harry {We're going down the pub} is genius. And the mentality behind Whn The Kids Are United is one of the Eternal Truths behind Divine Love. But that Oi guitarist taxi driver said that allegedly there are lots of rumours about the Sham singer.

*Btw, do you like Half Man, Half Biscuit? They too are genius. Scousers, see?

If you like French punk, this lot, B?rurier Noir, are the best. They saw the Clash's Rock Against Racism and did Rock Against the Police gigs in France. It was one of the things covered in this exhibition we saw in the National Immigration Museum in Paris, called Rock, Immigration and Anti-Racism in London and Paris 1950-1980:

https://www.theguardian.com/artandde...ris-and-london

This is the BN's Porcherie {pig sty} live. It's so sad that they sing about Le Pen "Never more than 20%."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpH0gre8AQw

Billericay Dickie has great lines throughout, but

A seasoned-up hyena
Could not have been more obscener

Is a particular standout.

HMHB. Nigel Blackwell is another genius.

Thanet was also name checked in their She's in Broadstairs.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Billericay Dickie has great lines throughout, but

A seasoned-up hyena
Could not have been more obscener

Is a particular standout.

HMHB. Nigel Blackwell is another genius.

Thanet was also name checked in their She's in Broadstairs.

Cheers for that. I'd never listened to that before. Any other HMHB classics I might have missed? Or songs about Thanet.

But the hyaena - obscener rhyme is one of the greatest in the English language. As I say, it's like Coleridge:

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

I wonder how many other lingos have Dury and Coleridge?

[Herbert Augustus Chapman]

Billericay Dickie has great lines throughout, but

A seasoned-up hyena
Could not have been more obscener

Is a particular standout.

HMHB. Nigel Blackwell is another genius.

Thanet was also name checked in their She's in Broadstairs.

I could always picture Janet from Thanet - "She looked more like a gannet, she wad'n arf a prannet" You don't hear prannet anymore