1977 November 10

1977

DATE INDEX

JANUARY

DECEMBER

WAYNE COUNTY & THE ELECTRIC CHAIRS

are no doubt controversial. And they fully ram it home with 'Fuck-Off' the latest song that their previous label Illegal Records refused to issue. Perhaps because they thought it really was illegal. However Safari Records being a new eager label turned onto punk had just signed the band and were willing to release it. Safari had just struck a distribution deal with the Pye giants, so they wern't gonna take any more risks and issued it incognito on the anagrammed 'Sweet FA Records'. This tender love ballad is flipped with rollercoaster "On The Crest."

"The mainstream rock world needed a good kick in the ass, and Fuck Off provided one. No one had ever been that lyrically blunt on a commercial single."

Wayne County, 2001

WAYNE COUNTY &THE ELECTRIC CHAIRS 'Fuck Off' Sweet FA/Safari 977

INSPIRED BY the Bessie Smith blues he was listening to, London-based New Yorker County originally wrote Fuck Off (as Put Out Or Get Out) around 1975, an ironic riposte to "all the prick-teasers who use their sexuality to take advantage of you". By 1977 it was established as the living embodiment of the tabloid media's most virulent nightmare, potty-mouthed punk at its most scat-ologically prurient, threatening to warp the fragile sensibilities of an entire generation of innocent children. Chain stores raced to outlaw the single, while the law sprang into action, preempting the Pistols' Bollocks scandal by arresting a Liverpool fan for wearing her 'If You Don't Want To Fuck Me...' badge in public. Still, 'Fuck Off' topped the indie charts, and Elton John told Cream magazine it was his favourite punk single ever.

(Mojo October 2001)

Writers: Wayne County Producer: Wayne County Personnel: Wayne CountyCounty (vcs), Greg Van Cook (gtr), Val Holler (bs), Jools Holland (kybs), JJ Johnson (drs).

have been joined by ex-Saints bassist Kym Bradshaw. He's turned up as the replacement for Arturo Bassick. Bradshaw takes over just in time to hit the road with the Lurkers on their latest tour. Meanwhile, Bassick is starting his own group, "Pinpoint."