The Business

Emerging from South London’s streets during October 1979, the Business spearheaded a British punk variant that bore scant resemblance to the contemporaneous new-wave movement. Together with contemporaries Angelic Upstarts, Blitz, and the 4-Skins, the group forged a tougher, more streetwise strain of punk that nevertheless retained the anthemic drive of Sham 69’s pervasive influence. This sound, widely labeled Oi! or street-punk, found its closest counterparts in the nascent American hardcore scene. The Business demonstrated an unmatched ability to generate anthems, beginning with the debut single “Harry May” and continuing through concert fixtures such as “Drinking and Driving” and “Smash the Discos,” both featured on the CD reissue of the seminal Suburban Rebels album. After an intermittent presence across the 1980s, the band reestablished itself for a sustained run in 1994 via Keep the Faith, an album that, true to form, blended accounts of football and drinking with pointed social observation and working-class choruses. That configuration—Micky Fitz on vocals, Steve Whale on guitar, Lol Proctor on bass, and Mickey Fairbairn on drums—issued No Mercy for You in July 2001, with Hardcore Hooligan appearing two years afterward.