The Undertones formed in Derry in 1974, a punk band that drew heavily from rock, new wave, glam rock, and even Motown. One of the most successful bands of their day to come out of Northern Ireland, the Undertones managed to mostly avoid playing politically charged music despite “the Troubles” dominating Northern Ireland at the time.
Legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel claimed the Undertones’ debut single Teenage Kicks as one of his all time favorite songs and was a strong supporter of the band. The group’s John O’Neill said that at the time of the song’s conception, he and the band only had about six original songs. The band set a goal of learning a new cover or writing a new song before each show.
Drawing on the Ronettes and MC5, O’Neill admits that the song is not terribly original. At the time of its recording, the band was playing weekly at the only club in Derry that would allow punk bands to perform, and the desire was to capture in the record as much of a live feel as they could, and O’Neill feels like they did a pretty good job with that.
In 1983, the Undertones released their fourth album and began a UK tour, when the pressure from their record label and internally between the bandmates became too much. Lead singer Feargal Sharkey announced his intention to leave the group during the tour, but contractual obligations required the band to remain whole for another two months.
Sharkey moved on to a brief but successful solo career in the late 1980s, while John and Damian O’Neill moved on to form That Petrol Emotion, which produced six albums by 1994.
The inevitable reunions began in 1999, although Sharkey declined to participate. He was replaced with a new vocalist, and the Undertones recorded a new album in 2007. The band has been the subject of two documentary films, one focused on that first record Teenage Kicks.
