interesting 80s commentary on the connection with oi music & polytix the 4 skins
The Oi! genre began in the latter part of the 1970s, fusing the styles of early punk bands such as The Clash and the Ramones; early British rock (i.e. the Rolling Stones, The Who); football chants; pub rock (i.e.101ers, Eddie and the Hot Rods); and glam rock bands (i.e. Slade, Sweet). The first Oi! bands included Sham 69, Cock Sparrer, the Cockney Rejects and the Angelic Upstarts, although some of them were around for years before the word Oi! was used to describe their style of music. The first incarnation of Skrewdriver, which began in 1976, is often described as Oi!, although the band never participated in the official Oi! scene. The original wave of Oi! bands was followed by groups such as The Business, The Last Resort, The 4-Skins, Blitz, Combat 84, Infa Riot, The Blood, Condemned 84 and The Oppressed.[3]
Originally the music style was called street punk, streetpunk, new punk or real punk.[4] Other terms that have been used at certain points are street rock, street rock 'n' roll, Oi!/street punk streetpunk/Oi!.[5] [6] It wasn't until the early 1980s that music journalist Garry Bushell labeled the movement Oi!, supposedly derived from the Cockney Rejects song Oi! Oi! Oi!.[7] The word Oi! is an old Cockney expression, simply meaning hey! or hello! The general ideology of the original Oi! movement was a rough sort of quasi-socialist working class populism. Lyrical topics included unemployment, workers' rights, police harassment and government oppression.[8] They also covered less-political topics like street violence, football (with chants), sex and alcohol. Although Oi! has become to be considered mainly a skinhead-oriented genre, the first Oi! bands were mostly comprised of punk rockers and people who fit neither the skinhead nor punk label.
Because some fans of Oi! were involved in white power organizations such as the National Front and the British Movement, some histories of rock music dismiss Oi! as racist.[9] However, none of the original Oi! bands promoted racism in their lyrics, and some bands, such as the Angelic Upstarts and The Oppressed were associated with left wing politics and anti-racism.[10] [11] One of the few exceptions was Skrewdriver, who by the mid-1980s was leading a neo-Nazi rock scene, preferring the term Rock Against Communism instead of Oi!. Apart from Ian Stuart Donaldson, the band had a different lineup than in the late 1970s, and some members of the first incarnation of Skrewdriver have stated they do not wish to be associated with Donaldson's racist views.[12] The mainstream media associated Oi! with far right politics following a concert by The Business, The Last Resort and The 4-Skins on July 4, 1981 at the Hamborough Tavern in Southall. Asian youths firebombed the tavern, mistakingly believing that the concert was a neo-Nazi gathering.[13]
In the aftermath, many Oi! bands condemned racism and fascism, but these denials were met with cynicism from some quarters following the release of the Strength Thru Oi compilation album. Not only was its title a supposed play on a Nazi slogan (Strength Through Joy) but the cover featured Nicky Crane, a British Movement activist who was serving a four-year sentence for racist violence. Garry Bushell, who was responsible for compiling the album, claimed its title was a pun on The Skids album Strength Through Joy. He also denied knowing the identity of the skinhead on the album's cover until it was exposed by the Daily Mail two months later.[14] Bushell, who was a socialist at the time, noted the irony of being branded a far-right activist by a paper who "had once supported Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts, Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia, and appeasement with Hitler right up to the outbreak of World War Two