Album Review: The Exploited - Punks Not Dead
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Formed in Edinburgh back in 1978, Hardcore Punk heavyweights The Exploited – like Discharge and Charged G.B.H. – were the central, unholy trinity of the abrasive, in-your-face, fast-as-F, and likely to stop the grass growing, second wave of Punk bands.
The originators of the genre were united by an attitude, but the bands who would go on to be gathered under the banner, UK’82, were fast and furious, asked no quarter and gave none either. Rather this was something the public had not seen before and would go on to influence a whole host of young musicians, to form bands like: Slayer, S.O.D., Napalm Death, Agnostic Front and so many more, it’s an article all its own.
The band’s debut record, Punk’s Not Dead hit the shelves in April 1981 and, as you can probably deduce, was titled to take a shot at the critics who’d already announced the death of the genre. It was – and still is – a fearsome collection of fast and furious punk ragers that went someway to show the naysayers that the proliferation of the then-popular new wave and post- punk bands was no substitute for the real thing.
To mark the forty-fifth anniversary of such a landmark record, the fine folk at Cherry Red is issuing a new limited edition on black vinyl with a red splatter, and including an inner sleeve features a plethora of clippings and memorabilia.
Side one opens with the title track’s belligerent chanting rapid fire vocals, into the bass-heavy cover of little-know punk stapple, Mucky Pup – from the even lesser-known, Puncture – and Cop Cars, with its siren opening and charging percussion.
The first time The Exploited go over two-minutes is with the scratchy guitars of Free Flight, which is anchored to the ground by Gary McCormack’s meaty bass, concluding with an irreverent rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. Army Life (Part II) reached a respectable number six in the UK Singles Chart upon release, recounting Wattie’s time as a teenage soldier on the streets of Northern Ireland in the early years of the Troubles. It’s built on an urgent riff and ballistic percussion courtesy of drummer Glen Campbell – no, not that one. Clearly not an accident, Blown to Bits follows, opening with a studio outtake and before cranking out a fat metal riff, from the strings of guitarist Big John Duncan.
Bringing the curtain down on side one is the album’s other chart botherer: the Top Five success of Sex and Violence which, after the revelation of a desire to visit Huddersfield, is five-minutes of some of the easiest lyrics you’ll be required to learn.
Over on side two comes a vitriolic verbal attack on SPG, a tight and energetic tune that has had crowds riled up for decades. Both Royalty and Dole Q veer into a style closer to new wave when compared to the band’s other output; Exploited Barmy Army fizzes with all sorts of vigour, simple but effective in its brevity.
Ripper feels dark, with only Big John’s cutting guitar slicing through the gloom; Out of Control and Son of a Copper lightens the mood with some fiery, punchy licks, leaving only the thrashy I Believe in Anarchy to take us out on a high and remind us that even though forty-five years have passed, Punk’s Not Dead still hits with the same belligerent attitude it did back years before most of us knew the Falkland Islands even existed, let alone find them on a map.
The album went on to reach number one in the Independent Album charts of 1981 and number twenty in the national chart, shifting around one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand copies and cementing its place in the pantheon of stone-cold classic punk records and making itself a must-have for any one with a penchant for aggressive guitar music.
Still going strong The Exploited is proving Punk's Not Dead by touring the globe, still fronted by the legend that is Wattie Buchan, though the proposed spring 2026 tour across Europe seems to have been somewhat scuppered by Wattie’s ill-health.
Get well soon, Big Man.
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