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| Nothing is more English than The Business and pub fish and chips and a pint of beer. This pub is in Greenwich Village, New York City. The CD is from Generation Records (*punk / metal / hardcore). |
OI punk began as a genre in the early-1980s when East London bands The Business, Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects, and 4-Skins started writing about football casuals culture and their love for West Ham United. These were the days when the football hooligan casuals culture was at its peak with football firms up and down the length of Great Britain causing mayhem and destruction. In the UK you had Millwall Bushwackers, Portsmouth's 6.57 Crew, West Ham United's Inter-City FIrm, Chelsea Headhunters, Hull City Psychos, and many others. In Scotland you had Inter-City Firm (Rangers), Celtic Soccer Crew, Aberdeen Soccer Casuals, Capital City Service (Hibs), Motherwell Saturday Service, Dundee Utility (supporting both Dundee and Dundee United) and even small clubs like Airdrie had their own firms (Section B at Airdrie for example).
The Business was formed in 1979 by school friends Steven ('Steve') Kent (guitar); Michael Fitzsimons ('Micky Fitz') (vocals); Nicholas ('Nick') Cunningham (drums); and Martin Smith (bass). Even though The Business were from Lewisham, South London they supported West Ham rather than Millwall.
On 1st December 2016 The Business vocalist Micky Fitz passed away from cancer. His cockney East London snarl, sounding so similar to Colin McFaul from Cock Sparrer, and sarcastic politically- and socially-aware lyrics were one of the voices of OI from the early days up until now. He had a good melodic voice too on excellent, more mature work such as "Coventry" and the Welcome to the Real World album (1988). He will be sadly missed. The OI tradition continues through bands such as Booze & Glory; The Skinflicks; Discharger; Evil Conduct; and the excellent Prague band SAINTS'N'SINNERS. Old legends Cockney Rejects showed their continued relevance with the excellent and very moving new single and video-clip "Goodbye Upton Park" released on 11 April 2016 which is about West Ham United's permanent move from Upton Park to the London Olympic Stadium for the 2016-2017 season [by Kieran James, 6 January 2017].
The Business - Studio albums
| Title | Year | Label |
| Suburban Rebels | 1983 | Secret Records |
| Saturday's Heroes | 1985 | Harry May |
| Welcome To The Real World | 1988 | Link |
| Keep The Faith | 1994 | Century Media |
| The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth | 1997 | Taang! Records |
| No Mercy For You | 2001 | Burning Heart Records |
The bUsiness - Singles/EPs
| Title | Year | Label | Notes |
| "Harry May" | 1981 | Secret | Charted #13 |
| Smash the Discos EP | 1982 | Secret | Charted #3 |
| "Out of Business" | 1983 | Secret | (withdrawn) |
| "Get Out of My House" | 1985 | Wonderful World | |
| "Drinking and Driving" | 1985 | Diamond | Charted #27 |
| "Do a Runner" | 1988 | Link | |
| "Anywhere But Here" | 1994 | Walzwerk | |
| "Death II Dance" | 1996 | Taang! | |
| "One Common Voice" | 1997 | Taang! | |
| "Hell 2 Pay" | 2002 | TKO Records | |
| Mean Girl EP | 2008 | Bad Dog | |
| Back In The Day EP | 2014 | Sailor's Grave |
Classic OI tunes (my picks):
1 Cockney Rejects, OI OI OI"
2 4-Skins "Chaos"
3 The Business, Saturday's Heroes
4 The Business, Saturday's Heroes full album
5 The Business, Coventry
New OI Tunes (my picks):
1 Skinflicks, Kings Without a Crown
2 Saints'N'Sinners (Prague) - Skinhead 4 Life
3 Booze & Glory - London Skinhead Crew
4 Saints'N'Sinners - Keep Hold
5 Cockney Rejects - Goodbye Upton Park (11 April 2016)
6 Cockney Rejects (live) - I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles,
Upton Park farewell, 2016
Upton Park farewell, 2016
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