Angelic Upstarts - Teenage Warning (1979)
Tracklist front / back album covers
Angelic Upstarts - Teenage Warning
Side A
"Teenage Warning" - 3.02
"Student Power" - 2.21
"The Young Ones" (Sid Tepper, Roy C. Bennett) - 1.49
"Never Again" - 3.06
"We Are The People" - 3.57
"The Murder of Liddle Towers" - 4.41
Side B
"I'm An Upstart" - 2.21
"Small Town Small Mind" - 2.26
"Youth Leader" - 3.05
"Do Anything" - 2.17
"Let's Speed" - 2.34
"Leave Me Alone" - 2.16
Angelic Upstarts Band Members / Musicians
Thomas Mensforth (Mensi) - vocals
Ray Cowie (Mond) - guitar
Steve Forsten - bass
Decca Wade - drums
Teenage Warning is Angelic Upstarts' 1st album, released in August 1979. It peaked at No.29 in the UK Album Charts and featured three singles, "The Murder of Liddle Towers", "I'm An Upstart" and "Teenage Warning". If you also take into account that the B-sides "The Young Ones" and "Leave Me Alone" are also included, it means almost half the album was also available on 7" singles.
The band were initially signed to Sham 69's Jimmy Pursey's JP Productions. The plan was to record a demo and use Pursey's leverage to secure a deal with Polydor - this floundered following an incident involving Pursey, a security guard and a snowball fight. Warner Brothers stepped in and signed them.
The album sleeve depicts a tattooed orange with a clockwork key, symbolising the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange and taken from the opening lyric of the title track, "Wind me up like a clockwork orange".
Paul Morley at the NME reviewed the album suggesting it would be Angelic Upstarts' "one burst" before they disintegrated, and remarked it was not his greatest listening experience but he had great fun reviewing it.
The Angelic Upstarts are an English punk rock band formed in South Shields in 1977. AllMusic calls them "one of the period's most politically charged and thought-provoking groups". The band espoused an anti-fascist and socialist working class philosophy, and have been associated with the punk subculture and skinhead subculture.
Angelic Upstarts Discography Full
Studio albums
Teenage Warning (August 1979, Warner Bros. Records)
We Gotta Get out of This Place (April 1980, WEA)
2,000,000 Voices (June 1981, Zonophone/EMI)
Still from the Heart (1982, Zonophone/EMI)
Reason Why? (1983, Anagram/Cherry Red)
Last Tango in Moscow (1984, Picasso)
Power of the Press (1986, Gas)
Blood on the Terraces (1987, Link)
Bombed Out (1992, Dojo)
Sons Of Spartacus (2002, Captain Oi!/Insurgence Records)
The Dirty Dozen (2011, Spit album with Crashed Out)
Bullingdon Bastards (2015, Boss Tuneage/Insurgence Records)
Live albums
Angelic Upstarts Live (September 1981, Zonophone/EMI)
Live in Yugoslavia (1985, Picasso)
Live & Loud (1988, Link)
Greatest Hits Live (1991, Link)
Live in Lubeck 1989 (1994, Bay City)
Live from the Justice League (2001, TKO)
Anthems Against Scum (2001, Insurgence)
Compilation albums
Angel Dust - The Collected Highs (1983, Anagram/Cherry Red)
Bootlegs & Rarities (1985, Dojo)
Lost & Found (1991, Link)
Alternative Chartbusters (1991, AOK)
Kids on the Streets (1993, Cleopatra)
The Independent Punk Singles Collection (1995, Cherry Red)
Rarities (1997, Captain Oi)
The EMI Punk Years (1999, Captain Oi)
Who Killed Liddle (1999, Recall)
Punk Singles Collection (2004, Captain Oi)
Singles
"The Murder of Liddle Towers"/"Police Oppression" (1978, Dead Records, re-released on Rough Trade/Small Wonder Records, Repress)
"I'm an Upstart"/"Leave Me Alone" (1979, Warner Bros.)
"Teenage Warning"/"The Young Ones" (1979, Warner Bros.)
"Never 'ad Nothin'"/"Nowhere Left to Hide" (1979, Warner Bros.)
"Out of Control"/"Shotgun Solution" (1980, Warner Bros. Records)
"We Gotta Get Out of this Place"/"Unsung Heroes" (1980, Warner Bros. Records)
"Last Night Another Soldier"/"I Wish" (1980, Zonophone/EMI)
"England"/"Stick's Diary" (1981, Zonophone/EMI)
"Kids on the Street"/"The Sun Never Shines" (1981, Zonophone/EMI)
"I Understand"/"Never Come Back" (1981, Zonophone/EMI)
"Different Strokes"/"Different Dub" (1981, Zonophone/EMI)
"Never Say Die"/"We Defy You" (1982, Zonophone/EMI)
"Woman in Disguise"/"Lust for Glory" (1982, Anagram/Cherry Red) (Also released on 12" single)
"Solidarity"/"Five Flew Over..." (1983, Anagram/Cherry Red) (Also released on 12" single)
"Not Just a Name"/"The Leech" (1983, Anagram/Cherry Red) (Also released on 12" single?)
"Machinegun Kelly"/"There's a Drink in It" (1984, Picasso)
"Brighton Bomb" E.P (1985, Sparta Florida/Gas Music Ltd) (12" Single)
"Brighton Bomb" (1987, Chameleon)
"England's Alive" E.P. (1988, Skunx) (12" Single)
"Angelic Upstarts/The Prowlers" (2014, Insurgence)
Videography
Holidays In The Sun (1997) (VHS)
Angelic Upstarts Live: Solidarity (2005) (DVD)
