Pub Rock
 The
full story of Pub Rock can be read in Will Birch's excellent book No
Sleep Till Canvey Island (Virgin). In it, the former Kursaal
Flyers drummer recounts how an American band called Eggs
Over Easy blagged themselves a gig in Kentish Town (London)
that so impressed local musicians (including Nick
Lowe) that they decided to have a go themselves.
One thing led to another and before you could say "mine's
a pint", there were similar bands springing up all over
London and an eager audience queuing to see them. Before long, a
'movement' was born.
 Initially the scene revolved around a handful of London bands
with odd names like Brinsley Schwarz,
Bees Make Honey, Ducks
Deluxe, Kilburn & The High
Roads and Chilli Willi & The Red
Hot Peppers. In half a dozen hostelries dotted around North
London they revived the roots of rock.
While the charts were
chock-full of pomp, glitter and glam, these bands took to the tiny
pub stages - with the bare minimum of equipment - and stripped
music back to its basics and gave it a modern makeover.
Pub Rock was primarily a live thing and you had to be there
with a pint in your hand to fully appreciate the magic of it. In
fact during the golden age of Pub Rock between 1972 and 1975, the
entire scene produced just one Top 20 single (How Long? by Ace)
and all the Pub Rock bands combined probably sold less than
150,000 albums.
And yet without Pub Rock there would have been no punk
rock in Britain. And for that alone, these bands deserve their
place in Rock & Roll history.
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