A few days ago, I read an excellent article about THE EXPLOITED made by 
After I read that article I start listening, for good old times, their songs. Accidentally I heard a song that instantly put me back in the past.
Song was „City babies attacked by rat“ and the band GBH.
Founded back in 1978, GBH (then still known as Charged GBH) was a true representative of the punk82 or UK82 scene. While The Exploited were kicking up dust with their, dare I say militaristic performance, GBH sounded like a real street fight.. Their songs were ones you could listen to at any moment. It was a painful slap to the entire world. With their brutal lyrics, they portrayed the harsh reality of the world.
photo: wikipedia.com
When their debut album,** "City Baby Attacked by Rats"** (1982) was released, it was total chaos. There wasn’t a punk rock party without playing a few songs from that album.. For me personally, my favorite song on that album, "Vietnamese Blues", is a masterpiece. Dark, tense, dirty — that song almost smells like smoke, sweat, and disappointment, everything that was experienced in Vietnam. I’d say it’s a song full of emotions.
Of course, now in my years I can look at it differently than I did when I was in those years.
Aftehr that came another album: "City Babys Revenge, 101 ways to kill a rat" with another great song "Diplomatic imunity".
Along with Colin Abrahall, who created raw emotion with his vocals, which was crazy enough to wake you up, but never nervous enough to give you a headache (as was the case in some bands that were just there to scream), for me, the real strength of GBH came from guitarist Jock Blyth and drummer Andy "Wilf" Williams. Jock’s strength doesn’t lie in technical "speed" or complexity, but in writing riffs that stick in your memory. Riffs that carry the entire song.
Wilf didn't hit the drums, he played them, although he wasn't "brutally fast" like some other drummers, but he had his own style. Rhythmically simple, but very pulsating, he kept the tempo perfectly with the right energy.
Honestly, I don’t know how they sound now, I haven’t listened to anything newer from them, but I’ll always happily listen to the old stuff.
Note: The YouTube videos that I have shared are not owned by me, I am just spreading music.
