Artykuły
History of Oi! Music! in Poland!2007.09.27, godzina 13.27.51
First rumours about the Oi! Movement in Poland date back to the early 1980s, at first it was popular only in big cities such as Warsaw, Toruń or the Tricity (Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia). The first bands which had something in common with Oi! Were DDT from Gdańsk and Skrajna Reakcja (Extreme Reaction) from Toruń. DDT was the first band whose lyrics were tainted with racism and whose fans were well aware of the fact that Oi! in Britain was already a strong movement, while Skrajna Reakcja was characterized by totally anti Communist message and Oi! image, as the members of the group used to claim themselves. DDT’s music can be described as fast oi!-punk, while Skrajna Reakcja played hardcore punk in the Discharge style. Sometime around 1984 lads with short cropped hair in jeans jackets and Romanian boots begin to come to most of gigs. At first they were the so-called git-punks – groups of thugs who would bash and rob the so-called “seasons” from their punk gear and leather jackets. “Seasons” were young men who decided to turn into punks for the weekend while during the week they were good and polite pupils. One year later crews from Kraków, Opole, Toruń and Racibórz and other cities adopted the skinhead image as their reaction to the new wave of punk which presented leftist ideology and their music became more and more hardcore like. In Gdańsk another band – RKM – was created, however, its members split up before they managed to record even a demo. Fortunately, more and more information and music became to reach Poland and every day Polish Oi! grew stronger. At this time Sexbomba, a group with its beginning clearly rooted in Oi!, started to play in Legionowo, however, its members decided to give up the skinhead image in order to play more concerts and record an LP which still is considered to be the first Polish Oi! record. As time passed, Sexbomba softened their music and eventually ended up recording typically commercial records.Southern Poland was also quite active and this is the region where crews from Kraków, Wisła, Opole, Racibórz or Rydułtowy organised their meetings. A number of bands were set up, such as Ramzes & The Hooligans, BTM, or Szczerbiec. The first group, created by Ramzes who as early as in 1980 played in a punk band called HAOS, played hooligan Oi! with blasphemous lyrics. Strangely enough, the first gig of the Ramzes & The Hooligans took place in Warsaw, where a bunch of skinheads led by a guy called “Ćwiara” rallied the venue in order to demolish it but after a few songs the lads became the first fans of the band. Somewhere in 1986 in Kraków another band – BTM was set up. It was the first purely skinhead band, whose music and image squared with British standards. In fact, BTM did not play a single gig but they managed to leave the stage with two recorded demos and when the guys decided to reactivate the group in the 1990s, BTM recorded a single and one LP. Skunks began playing in Ustroń in 1987, soon the band was transformed into Szczerbiec. Baranki Boże (Lambs of Lord) were set up in Słupsk. It has to be mentioned at this point that in 1986 the first Polish skinzine – Przebudźcie się (Wake Up) was published in Racibórz. Skinheads became quite active in Sosnowiec. The late 1980s saw skinheads to greatly grow in number, they became a significant part of audiences at various concerts and they often provoked trouble. At the turn of decades new bands were formed - Honor in Gliwice, Konkwista 88 in Wrocław and BDM in Łódź, led by one of the most famous yobs from this city – “Struś”. In the meantime Ramzes emigrated to Germany and the rest of the group changed their name into Polska and their message became more nationalistic. In October 1989 in Bielsko-Biała the first purely skinhead gig was organized. The bands which played at this gig were Szczerbiec, Polska and Honor. The gig turned into manifestation of power and unity of Polish skinheads, it ended up with quite a success and its echo was heard across the whole country. Before long new groups and new skinhead factions came to existence. Szczerbiec recorder studio material and then split into two new bands – Rezystencja and Sztorm ’68. In 1991/92 Polish television recorded a documentary about skinheads entitled Oi! showing a gig in Sosnowiec during which Honor and Zacier played. At the beginning of the 1990s skinhead movement became more radical and continued to grow. Wrocław became an exceptionally strong centre for skinheads. Under the influence of the band Konkwista ’88 nazi skins mushroomed in the city and at one moment this group became so strong that the Mayor of the city asked foreign students on the local TV news to avoid the city centre at night. It was also in Wrocław where a spectacular action was organized – skinheads attacked a manifestation of solidarity with Nelson Mandela. Other cities in which skinheads became numerous were Białystok, where the band Ojczyzna (Fatherland) played, Bydgoszcz where skinzine Legion was published regularly (later it changed its name into Skinhead Polski and then it turned again into more political Błyskawica). Another city was Toruń where a neopagan band Zadruga and Trykwetr were active and the Tricity where there were loads of skins with their skinzine entitled Odłam Skiny. 13 issues of the skinzine were published, moreover, its editor established a music label through which he released a number of cassettes with skinhead music, he also developed a distribution network. In the 1990 Kwaśny, who used to be the vocalist of BTM established a business called Carry On Oi! and it was in this company that nearly all the records of Polish non-political bands were released. Carry On Oi! also released a lot of foreign licensed records – more than 40 titles and 8 issues of the Carry On Oi! skinzine. At the same time the Przebudźcie się skinzine changed its name into Kołomir and after a short period of presenting radical views its authors continued to stick to the skinhead culture. There is no point in denying that many skinheads used to be and they still are football fans – the fiercest ones. Many football clubs has their Ultras groups consisting mainly of skinheads. Suffice to say that for many years Lechia Gdańsk has been related to right wing skinheads who used to attend its matches in masses and there was a time when people said that there were 2000 skinheads living in the Morena district of Gdańsk. The similar story happened in Wrocław, Opole and Warsaw where football riots provoked by skinheads became a legend. Skinheads treated the band Po Prostu with particular respect. Regardless of the fact that they played punk ’77 and did not have anything in common with Oi! either in terms of music or lyrics, they became Polish skinheads’ favourite. The capital city of Poland was regarded as an exotic place at that time – this is the place where a typically Polish aberration originated: “National Catholic Skins” who were led by a guy called Jesus. Just to make things even more funny hooligans from Warsaw were commanded by a Lucifer from Pruszków, who made a name for himself by widening someone’s smile with a piece of broken glass. Polish NS skins were becoming stronger and after some time they begun to invite to their gigs the most famous groups from abroad, e.g. No Remorse or Squadron. At this time nearly whole skinhead movement in Poland was openly racist and totally anti-Communist, the NS faction visibly dominated. It was only in the second half of the 1990s that the situation begun to change. One of the cities central for non-political Oi! became Sosnowiec where the Skinhead Sosnowiec skinzine was published. Such bands as The Horrorshow and Skankan, the first good Polish skaband, played there. In the mid-nineties it became possible to record and release record with skinhead music in a professional way. The Fan Records label officially released cassettes of such bands as Konkwista 88, Honor, Sztorm 68, BTM and others. In Racibórz Bootboy Power Records and Dossier Skinhead Records were established which released first vinyl singles with skinhead music of such bands as Konkwista 88, Ramzes & The Hooligans, BTM, Zadruga i Polska. In 1994 the first CD of the Polska was released. In the second half of 1990s Konkwista 88 i Honor (NS scene), Rezystencja, The Horrorshow (Oi!) had a well-established position, new important groups were set up among which the most active was The Analogs from Szczecin. Another band, Bulbulators which used to play punk came closer to Oi! in its style. Also in Szczecin a fanzine called Garaż was brought back to life, it present non-political Oi! and numerous types of punk, ska and psychobilly. The fanzine was published by the Rock’N’Roller Records (today it is called Jimmy Jazz Records) and apart from releasing records of Polish bands, the label reedited foreign records on cassettes and Polish ska, punk and Oi! groups on CDs, recently the label added psychobilly to its offer. More important skinzines are the following: “Mordownia Oi!” (8 issues), ”Riot Riot”, ”Przepraszam Czy Tu Biją”, ”Duma Mamusi” and “Crusader” (the first Polish skinzine edited in colour) and the newest – Gitness ’69 from Żory. Skinhead culture is presented on the following web pages: www.skinheads.waw.pl produced by Rodzyn and Szopen and www.skinheads.Civ.pl which is the best and the most active Polish web page devoted to this cult. Moreover, the producer of the latter begun to release records of such bands as BTM and Rezystencja, he also plans to publish a newspaper propagating the skinhead movement.It is worth adding a few more words abort a peculiar phenomenon - Ramzes & The Hooligans. Despite the fact that Ramzes, its leader, has lived in Germany for 15 years the band has recorded 2 singles and 3 LPs (one SP and one LP released in Germany). The Gits (ex Surowa Generacja), a politically incorrect band from Lublin became a good for export, they have already managed to record a number of CDs and the first Polish skinhead vinyl entitled A Paper Girl. Other active groups are Zbeer in the Silesia region, Lumpex ’75 from Gdańsk and all bandits, i.e. groups from Warsaw, such as Triglav, Werwolf’77, Awantura, Mauser. The youngest bands are: The Junkers, Bachor, Alarm, Bilety Do Kontroli presented on this compilation. It is not possible to say everything about Polish skinheads in so few words, but it should be enough if you go to any football ground and I am sure you will meet them there. One thing is for sure – Polish Oi! does exist and it is alive and kicking under many names. Marek Jurczenko
Translation: Charles and Dave©
Autor: Urko [olifant@olifant.com.pl]
