When you’re a 16 year old boy and listening to punk music, two things are for sure: 1. You are an outcast, someone rejected by ordinary people like that girl from French class you secretly have a crush on. 2. What you really want to sing and dance to are songs not about politics, war or some social issues (although you gotta admit you do kinda like it!) but your favourite topic would be that girl from French class you secretly have a crush on.
The Undertones didn’t change the world, neither did they reinvent the wheel or push the boundaries of punk rock, but they seemed to have written a whole album about that girl from French class you secretly have a crush on. And not only that, but they also wrote songs about these jocks that kept pushing you around, songs about having fun with your few friends in your spare time and songs about teenage angst.
If you are one of these boys and listen back to their self-titled debut, chances are you’ll think that The Undertones have spied on you during your high school years, traveled back in time to 1979 and recorded an album about your life there. That wasn’t the case of course, but it’s still a record that showed you that you were not alone. It’s half an hour of someone shouting “Hey! There are people around with similar problems and you’re okay and you’re normal!” It could save your life, it could have you dancing, singing and crying on your bed. It’s all that and more.
The teenage drama it evokes doesn’t vanish after a few listens, it still retains a certain strength even if you listen to it a few years on. It takes you back and makes you realise what a bitch that girl from French class was and how bittersweet these teenage memories are. And it still makes you dance.
It’s the perfect high-energy, low-self-esteem, catchy pop punk record. No one ever bettered it at what it did and still does. Eat this, Green Day!
