The Undertones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Undertones)

The Undertones
Origin	Derry, Northern Ireland
Genre(s)	Punk rock Pop punk Power pop
Years active	1975-1983 1999-present
Label(s)	Cooking Vinyl
Associated acts	That Petrol Emotion Rare
Website	TheUndertones.com
Members
Paul McLoone Michael Bradley Damian O'Neill Billy Doherty John O'Neill
Former members
Feargal Sharkey

The Undertones are a Northern Irish punk/power pop band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975. Their music was characterised by catchy, short, pop songs featuring buzzsaw guitars, a steady beat and singer Feargal Sharkey's quavering delivery. The original band released four studio albums: The Undertones (1979), Hypnotised (1980), Positive Touch (1981) and The Sin Of Pride (1983).

1 Early career
2 Later years
3 Reunion
4 Members
- 4.1 Former members
5 Cover versions of Undertones songs
6 Singles
7 Albums
8 Compilation albums
9 Footnotes
10 External links

Inpired by acts such as The Ramones, The Undertones began practising and playing cover versions of punk rock songs at schools and scout huts under the name "The Hot Rods", some of the band members were unhappy with the name because there was already a music act with the same name. The Undertones as a name was chosen by one of the band members who discovered the word in a history book. By 1977 the band were performing their own three-chord pop punk material, and in 1978 they released their debut four-song EP Teenage Kicks on Belfast's Good Vibrations record label. The EP became a hit with support from BBC DJ John Peel, who considered the title song his all-time favourite.

Later in their career the Undertones began to change musical direction, with their later songs being of the Power Pop genre, which was very different to their earlier punk rock offerings. Falling sales and tensions within the band led to their split in 1983.

The band reformed in 1999 to play concerts in Derry, replacing singer Feargal Sharkey with Paul McLoone. The band released an album of original material with McLoone in 2003 titled Get What You Need. The band were the subject of a 2004 documentary. The Undertones: Teenage Kicks, which features the band wandering their old haunts with John Peel and charting their history. The band toured North America in 2005. They released their latest studio album, Dig Yourself Deep, on 15 October 2007.^[1].