Biography
Emerging amid Britain’s late-’70s upheaval, the Ruts fused ferocious punk with reggae and dub textures to become one of the era’s most arresting acts. Although vocalist Malcolm Owen’s death in 1980 abruptly ended their run, the quartet still managed to issue six pivotal singles and one landmark album before the remaining members carried forward under the name Ruts D.C. Their early and sustained involvement in the Rock Against Racism campaign left a political imprint every bit as significant as their recordings. Tracks such as “Babylon’s Burning” and “In a Rut” delivered unvarnished first-wave punk equal in force to anything produced by their contemporaries, while “Jah War” demonstrated equal command of reggae grooves and dubwise production techniques, and “Staring at the Rude Boys” fused punk instrumentation with West Indian subject matter without slighting either tradition.
Four school friends from West London—Malcolm Owen, guitarist Paul Fox, bassist John Jennings, and drummer Dave Ruffy—formed the band in early 1978. At first they played local shows with an ordinary post-punk and early Oi!-tinged repertoire. The National Front’s targeted efforts to enlist young recruits prompted the musicians to adopt an openly political posture and to lend their voices to the mounting street-level resistance against fascism.
Rock Against Racism arose directly from that same grassroots mobilization, using concerts to spread anti-racist awareness. The Ruts joined the campaign almost immediately, performing at benefits and festivals; one such event brought them into contact with the South London reggae outfit Misty in Roots. Through Misty’s People Unite imprint the Ruts released their debut single, the propulsive “In a Rut” backed with “H-Eyes,” in late 1978.
That record gave little indication of the band’s full range. When they taped a Radio 1 session for John Peel a few months afterward, “In a Rut” was absent from the set. Nevertheless, several labels noticed their promise, and Virgin Records signed them in spring 1979.
The partnership paid off at once: the follow-up single “Babylon’s Burning” coupled with “Society” climbed into the U.K. Top Ten. Reflecting the social and political turbulence then roiling the country, the song captured the latent anger beneath Britain’s surface. After a national tour supporting the Damned and the release of the Top 30 single “Something That I Said,” the Ruts delivered their debut album, The Crack, in October 1979. Its potent mixture of punk, roots reggae, dub, and hard-rock intensity carried the record to number 16 and into the national consciousness.
Taken from the album, the single “Jah War” responded to the April riots in London’s Southall district that left one person dead and many injured. The track combined a deep dub backdrop, a trenchant riff, and a rousing chorus, distilling fury and grief in equal measure and foreshadowing the Specials’ “Ghost Town” the following year.
Despite its quality, the single failed to chart; its subject matter proved too incendiary for British radio. The setback did not halt the band’s momentum. After headlining their own tour, the quartet backed Jamaican ska pioneer Laurel Aitken on his first new U.K. single in years, “Rudi Got Married.” In April 1980 the Ruts themselves returned to the Top 25 with “Staring at the Rude Boys,” a 2 Tone-styled excursion that remained lyrical rather than musical in orientation.
Plans for a second album and an American tour were under way, and domestic dates were selling out, yet Owen’s personal life had collapsed. His marriage had ended and his long-standing heroin use had escalated beyond control. Several U.K. shows had to be cancelled; in a last attempt to intervene, the band dismissed him shortly after they finished recording the proposed single “West One.”
The dismissal appeared to galvanize Owen. He sought treatment and arranged a meeting with his bandmates that ended in reconciliation. Within days, however, his resolve faltered. On the weekend of 11 July 1980 he returned home, injected heroin, and died of an overdose. Fox, Jennings, and Ruffy continued as Ruts D.C.—the initials standing for the Italian phrase “da capo,” or “from the beginning”—pursuing a markedly different musical direction. Nevertheless, the original band’s work endured. “West One” entered the U.K. chart a month after Owen’s death. Virgin assembled leftover recordings and non-album tracks into the 1980 album Grin and Bear It. Ruts D.C. issued Animal Now in 1981 and, the following year, Rhythm Collision, produced by dub specialist Mad Professor; the trio disbanded in 1983.
Strange Fruit compiled the group’s three Radio 1 sessions as The Peel Sessions Album in 1987, reissued on CD in 1990. Windsong’s BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert, released in 1991, offered a more satisfying live document than the two 1987 collections The Ruts Live and Live and Loud! Caroline’s 1995 anthology Something That I Said gathered key tracks, and further compilations, tribute sets, and live releases appeared through the 2000s, alongside the early-demo collection In a Can in 2000.
On 16 July 2007 the surviving members reconvened for a benefit concert for Paul Fox, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Henry Rollins sang lead vocals, with the Damned, Tom Robinson, and Misty in Roots among the support acts. The event encouraged the band to return to the studio; Jennings and Ruffy were joined by guitarist Leigh Heggarty. Working intermittently at Mad Professor’s studio over the next five years, they completed Rhythm Collision, Vol. 2, issued in 2013. The concert recording Live on Stage followed in 2014, and the studio album Music Must Destroy appeared in 2016, featuring Rollins on the title track and guest appearances by Jake Burns of Stiff Little Fingers and Kirk Brandon of Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny on “Kill the Pain.” That same year another compilation, Babylon’s Burning, repackaged Live and Loud! and In a Can as a double LP.
Four school friends from West London—Malcolm Owen, guitarist Paul Fox, bassist John Jennings, and drummer Dave Ruffy—formed the band in early 1978. At first they played local shows with an ordinary post-punk and early Oi!-tinged repertoire. The National Front’s targeted efforts to enlist young recruits prompted the musicians to adopt an openly political posture and to lend their voices to the mounting street-level resistance against fascism.
Rock Against Racism arose directly from that same grassroots mobilization, using concerts to spread anti-racist awareness. The Ruts joined the campaign almost immediately, performing at benefits and festivals; one such event brought them into contact with the South London reggae outfit Misty in Roots. Through Misty’s People Unite imprint the Ruts released their debut single, the propulsive “In a Rut” backed with “H-Eyes,” in late 1978.
That record gave little indication of the band’s full range. When they taped a Radio 1 session for John Peel a few months afterward, “In a Rut” was absent from the set. Nevertheless, several labels noticed their promise, and Virgin Records signed them in spring 1979.
The partnership paid off at once: the follow-up single “Babylon’s Burning” coupled with “Society” climbed into the U.K. Top Ten. Reflecting the social and political turbulence then roiling the country, the song captured the latent anger beneath Britain’s surface. After a national tour supporting the Damned and the release of the Top 30 single “Something That I Said,” the Ruts delivered their debut album, The Crack, in October 1979. Its potent mixture of punk, roots reggae, dub, and hard-rock intensity carried the record to number 16 and into the national consciousness.
Taken from the album, the single “Jah War” responded to the April riots in London’s Southall district that left one person dead and many injured. The track combined a deep dub backdrop, a trenchant riff, and a rousing chorus, distilling fury and grief in equal measure and foreshadowing the Specials’ “Ghost Town” the following year.
Despite its quality, the single failed to chart; its subject matter proved too incendiary for British radio. The setback did not halt the band’s momentum. After headlining their own tour, the quartet backed Jamaican ska pioneer Laurel Aitken on his first new U.K. single in years, “Rudi Got Married.” In April 1980 the Ruts themselves returned to the Top 25 with “Staring at the Rude Boys,” a 2 Tone-styled excursion that remained lyrical rather than musical in orientation.
Plans for a second album and an American tour were under way, and domestic dates were selling out, yet Owen’s personal life had collapsed. His marriage had ended and his long-standing heroin use had escalated beyond control. Several U.K. shows had to be cancelled; in a last attempt to intervene, the band dismissed him shortly after they finished recording the proposed single “West One.”
The dismissal appeared to galvanize Owen. He sought treatment and arranged a meeting with his bandmates that ended in reconciliation. Within days, however, his resolve faltered. On the weekend of 11 July 1980 he returned home, injected heroin, and died of an overdose. Fox, Jennings, and Ruffy continued as Ruts D.C.—the initials standing for the Italian phrase “da capo,” or “from the beginning”—pursuing a markedly different musical direction. Nevertheless, the original band’s work endured. “West One” entered the U.K. chart a month after Owen’s death. Virgin assembled leftover recordings and non-album tracks into the 1980 album Grin and Bear It. Ruts D.C. issued Animal Now in 1981 and, the following year, Rhythm Collision, produced by dub specialist Mad Professor; the trio disbanded in 1983.
Strange Fruit compiled the group’s three Radio 1 sessions as The Peel Sessions Album in 1987, reissued on CD in 1990. Windsong’s BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert, released in 1991, offered a more satisfying live document than the two 1987 collections The Ruts Live and Live and Loud! Caroline’s 1995 anthology Something That I Said gathered key tracks, and further compilations, tribute sets, and live releases appeared through the 2000s, alongside the early-demo collection In a Can in 2000.
On 16 July 2007 the surviving members reconvened for a benefit concert for Paul Fox, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Henry Rollins sang lead vocals, with the Damned, Tom Robinson, and Misty in Roots among the support acts. The event encouraged the band to return to the studio; Jennings and Ruffy were joined by guitarist Leigh Heggarty. Working intermittently at Mad Professor’s studio over the next five years, they completed Rhythm Collision, Vol. 2, issued in 2013. The concert recording Live on Stage followed in 2014, and the studio album Music Must Destroy appeared in 2016, featuring Rollins on the title track and guest appearances by Jake Burns of Stiff Little Fingers and Kirk Brandon of Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny on “Kill the Pain.” That same year another compilation, Babylon’s Burning, repackaged Live and Loud! and In a Can as a double LP.
Albums
