Good Vibrations was a Belfastrecord label and store. Founded by Terri Hooley in the early 1970s, Good Vibrations started out in a small derelict building on Great Victoria Street, Belfast. Good Vibrations began life as a record shop, opening in late 1976; it grew to become a popular record shop.
Terri was persuaded by a shop regular, Gordy Owens, to see local punk bands Rudi and the Outcasts play at The Pound, a local music venue, on 12 January 1978.[1] "Rudi took to the stage and they blew my mind. From the moment the first chords were played I was completely in love with them - hook, line and sinker."[2]
Terri promptly approached Rudi proposing that they work together to release a record. The initial plan was to release a flexi-disc that would be distributed with local punk fanzine Alternative Ulster. The cost of producing a vinyl record was only marginally more expensive than a flexi-disc, so the decision was taken that “Big Time” would be released as a vinyl single.[1][3] “Big Time” was released in April 1978 and the Good Vibrations record label was born. It was the first record on the label with 3,000 copies being pressed. Shortly after its release, John Peel played “Big Time” on his Radio One show. The single sold well but there were no offers of contracts from the major record labels. Good Vibrations repressed and re-released the single in October 1979.[4]
It wasn't just Rudi that won over Terri Hooley, he was inspired by the wider emerging Belfast punk scene: “I loved the energy and I loved the fact that these kids didn't give a shit about the cops and were prepared to take them on. Punk was anarchy, and I had been waiting for it all my life.” [5] He also loved that “At a time when the religious divide in Northern Ireland was most pronounced, we had kids from both sides of the community coming together in the name of music and there was rarely any trouble”.[6]
Good Vibrations also staged gigs featuring local punk bands. The ‘Battle of the Bands’ gig held at the McMordie hall at Queens University Belfast on 14 June 1978 featured seven local acts including The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts. Good Vibrations was closely linked to the punk scene at the Harp Bar when it become a regular venue for punk bands in 1978.
Despite the fall out that led to Rudi leaving the label, Brian Young is clear about Terri Hooley and Good Vibration's contribution to the punk movement in Northern Ireland: “His importance can't be overestimated. He encouraged people. He was a great ideas man. Before that, people just laughed at you - “stupid kids, you'll grow out of it”. But he took us seriously … And he had enthusiasm. He wasn't in it for any cynical motive. He had the contacts, the knowledge and the experience to go ahead and do it.” [7]
Good Vibrations hosted the first International Festival of Punk and New Wave at the Ulster Hall in Belfast over two nights in 1980 featuring almost the entire roster of the label's bands and other punk acts such as The Saints.
Of all the Good Vibrations acts, the most famous were The Undertones. Hooley was unsure at first, whether or not he should sign them. "I wasn't sure about them because nobody liked them. People crossed the road just to spit at Feargal Sharkey."[8] On the morning after the ‘Battle of the Bands’ gig, The Undertones recorded “Teenage Kicks” for the Good Vibrations label. “I really believed in this record and so I decided that the best way to get it out there was to go straight to the lion's den - to London, the world capital of music, the theatre of dreams. I thought that if I personally did the rounds at the major labels and distributors that they would have to listen and they would see just how amazing this record was. And so, with a bag full of ‘Teenage Kicks’, I was off to London”.[9] None of the major record companies showed any interest in The Undertones or “Teenage Kicks”. As a last resort, Terri left a few copies of the single at the BBC for the attention of John Peel. On 12 September 1978, John Peel played “Teenage Kicks” on his Radio One show and then announced “I tell you what, you know, I've not done this for ages but I think we ought to hear that again.” It was the first time in the BBC's history that a record had been played twice in a row.[10] Soon after, The Undertones signed to Sire Records.
Back in 1978, prior to recording "Teenage Kicks" on Good Vibrations, The Undertones were seriously considering breaking up, disillusioned by the lack of interest from major labels. The release of the record on Good Vibrations took The Undertones from the verge of calling it a day to a big label deal and a series of best selling singles and albums.[11]
Good Vibrations never made any money out of The Undertones or “Teenage Kicks”. “When I signed the rights over to Sire, all I asked for was £500, an autographed picture of the Shangri-Las and a few albums.”[12]
Appearance in the media
The independent documentary film Shellshock Rock on the punk scene in Northern Ireland, filmed in 1979, has clips of many of the groups who recorded for Good Vibrations playing live including The Undertones, Rudi, Protex, The Outcasts, the Idiots, Victim and Rhesus Negative. The film also has an interview with Terri Hooley in the Good Vibrations shop.[13][14]
BBC2's Something Else broadcast in January 1980 had a feature on the punk scene in Belfast including live sets from The Undertones and Rudi.[15] The Undertones had by this time released and charted with five singles and a debut album. Rudi's performance of "The Pressure's On" and "Who? You!" on Something Else captures the group at their best performing two of their top tracks.[16] The TV appearance was supposed to coincide with the release of the two tracks as a single on Good Vibrations. The tracks had been recorded at the end of December but Good Vibrations failed to release the single. An important opportunity was missed. “The show came and went to universal acclaim but the single never appeared … and to this day I still don't know why not! We split for good from the label in disgust”[17]
Closures
Despite growing popularity, Good Vibrations filed for bankruptcy in 1982. “The label was a ramshackle enterprise with no band ever signing a contract, everything being left to mutual trust ... In keeping with the punk ethos, everything was done on the cheap. Practically all the singles were recorded at Wizard Studios in Belfast. The picture covers for the singles were run off on a photocopier and duly folded into poster sleeves, usually by the bands themselves. Everything was done on a shoestring.”[18]
The Good Vibrations label may have ended in financial collapse only a few years after it was launched, and along the way there were missed opportunities, but there is no denying the importance of Good Vibrations/Terri Hooley to the Northern Ireland punk scene. “When punk rock arrived, it gladdened his old hippy heart and his keen sense of anarchy. In 1978, he released ‘Big Time’, ‘Teenage Kicks’ and a stack of lesser classics. He made us famous for something outside the usual agenda. And because he was such a rubbish businessman, he was bankrupt by 1982.”[19]
Although the original Good Vibrations shop on Great Victoria Street in Belfast had closed, Hooley's friends later got him a shop called Vintage Records, Co. just around the corner. As Good Vibrations he reopened in 1984, closed in 1991, reopened in 1992, closed in 2004 and reopened in 2005. Due to ill health, Hooley closed the shop for the final time on 13 June 2015.
BIG4 Protex – Listening In LP (Release originally cancelled, finally issued in 2001)
BIG5 Terminus 5 ( Belfast band) LP "The Killer breed"
Singles
GOT1Rudi_(band) – "Big Time" / "No. One" 7" (Pink or white wraparound sleeve, 3000 pressed)
GOT2 Victim – "Strange Thing By Night" / "Mixed Up World" 7" (Pink wraparound sleeve)
GOT3 The Outcasts – "Justa Nother Teenage Rebel" / "Love Is For Sops" 7" (White wraparound sleeve)
GOT4The Undertones – "Teenage Kicks" 7" (4 track EP, most in white wraparound sleeve, also very rare yellow, green, pink & blue sleeves. Reissued several times, firstly on Sire)
The film was later adapted into an off-broadway musical of the same name,[22] which features a live band as part of the cast, playing songs from several Good Vibrations artists.
The Undertones are a rock band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. From 1975 to 1983, the Undertones consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill, Damian O'Neill, Michael Bradley and Billy Doherty (drums). Much of the earlier Undertones material drew influence from punk rock and new wave; the Undertones also incorporated elements of rock, glam rock and post-punk into material released after 1979, before citing soul and Motown as the influence for the material released upon their final album. The Undertones released thirteen singles and four studio albums between 1978 and 1983 before Sharkey announced his intention to leave the band in May 1983, citing musical differences as the reason for the break up.
Stiff Little Fingers are a Northern Irish punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star, doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They were the first punk band in Belfast to release a record – the "Suspect Device" single came out on their own independent label, Rigid Digits. Their album Inflammable Material, released in partnership with Rough Trade, became the first independent LP to enter the UK top 20.
"Teenage Kicks" is the debut single by Northern Irish punk rock band the Undertones. Written in the summer of 1977 by J.J. O'Neill, the band's rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter, the song was recorded on 15 June 1978 and initially released that September on independent Belfast record label Good Vibrations, before the band signed to Sire Records on 2 October 1978. Sire Records subsequently obtained all copyrights to the material released upon the Teenage Kicks EP and the song was re-released as a standard vinyl single on Sire's own label on 14 October that year, reaching number 31 in the UK Singles Chart two weeks after its release
Rudi were a punk rock/power pop band from Belfast formed in 1975. Throughout the late 1970s they were one of the most popular Northern Ireland punk bands but while The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers secured record deals with major labels and had chart success, Rudi didn’t hit the big time and became 'the band that time forgot'. Rudi split in 1982. Their recordings can still be found today.
The Moondogs are a Northern Irish rock band formed in 1979, and consisting of Gerry McCandless, Austin Barrett and Jackie Hamilton. Their career spans three albums, four singles and two television programmes.
Michael "Mickey" Bradley is the bassist for the Northern Irish pop punk band The Undertones.
Events during the year 1978 in Northern Ireland.
"You've Got My Number " is a 1979 punk rock song originally written and recorded by Northern Irish band the Undertones. Written in the summer of 1979 by the band's main songwriter, John O'Neill, the single was released on 9 October that year and reached number 32 in the UK charts. The song was performed live on Top of the Pops on 15 November 1979.
Terence Wilfred Hooley is a businessman from Northern Ireland who is a prominent figure in the Belfast punk scene and founder of the Good Vibrations record shop and label. He was responsible for bands such as The Undertones, Rudi, Protex and The Outcasts making their mark on the music scene in Ireland and Britain. After playing "Teenage Kicks" on BBC, national radio John Peel then became a big supporter of the Good Vibrations record label.
The Shapes were an English punk rock group that formed in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1976. Different in many ways from their peers in the nascent punk subculture, they were known for eschewing the more political stances that were fashionable at the time, instead producing works of a cartoonish and absurdist nature. They were often compared to The Rezillos because of their Gerry Anderson-themed work.
The Tearjerkers are a five piece power pop band from Northern Ireland. Formed at the height of the punk rock boom in Ulster in 1978, the band were composed of members from other Northern Irish groups namely Cobra, Midnight Cruiser and The Detonators.
The Outcasts are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in 1977.
Protex are a Belfast punk band which formed in 1978. Their first records were issued on Good Vibrations records. They formed part of the first wave of Belfast punk bands along with label-mates The Undertones and Rudi (band). The original line-up was Paul Maxwell (bass/vocals), Owen McFadden (drums), David McMaster (guitar/vocals), Aidan Murtagh (guitar/vocals).
"It's Going to Happen!" is a new wave song originally written and recorded by Northern Irish band the Undertones. The song was written in the winter of 1980 and recorded at Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands in January, 1981. "It's Going to Happen!" was the eighth single released by the band and the second single released to be co-written by lead guitarist Damian O'Neill and bassist Michael Bradley.
Good Vibrations is a 2013 comedy-drama film written by Colin Carberry and Glenn Patterson and directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn. It stars Richard Dormer, Jodie Whittaker, Adrian Dunbar, Liam Cunningham, Karl Johnson and Dylan Moran. It is based on the life of Terri Hooley, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk rock scene. The film was produced by Chris Martin, with Andrew Eaton, Bruno Charlesworth and David Holmes. Holmes also co-wrote the soundtrack score.
The Harp Bar was a public house and live music venue based in Hill Street, central Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is notable in the context of punk rock history, particularly music from Northern Ireland. It was owned between 1977 and 1984 by Patrick (Patsy) Lennon who some years later built and owned the Limelight nightclub and Dome Bar.
The Mighty Shamrocks is a band formed in 1979 from the duo of Derry-born songwriter/guitarist Mickey Stephens and guitarist Dougie Gough.
Shock Treatment was a post-punk band formed in Belfast in 1978 built around vocalist Barry McIlheney, (vocals), guitarist Davy McLarnon (guitar), and bassist David ‘Basil’ McCausland (bass).
"Alternative Ulster" is the second single by the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers. Originally released as a single on 17 October 1978, the song later appeared on the band's 1979 debut studio album, Inflammable Material.
Gavin Martin was a globally celebrated Northern Irish music journalist.
↑ Terri Hooley & Richard Sullivan (2010). Hooleygan: music, mayhem and Good Vibrations. Belfast: Blackstaff. ISBN978-0-85640-851-9. p.62
↑ Terri Hooley & Richard Sullivan (2010). Hooleygan: music, mayhem and Good Vibrations. Belfast: Blackstaff. ISBN978-0-85640-851-9. pp.64-65
↑ Sean O'Neill & Guy Trelford (2003) "It Makes You Want To Spit - The Definitive Guide to Punk in Northern Ireland 1977-1982", Reekus Records, ISBN0-9546057-0-5. p164 spitrecords.co.uk/rudi.htm
↑ Terri Hooley & Richard Sullivan (2010). Hooleygan: music, mayhem and Good Vibrations. Belfast: Blackstaff. ISBN978-0-85640-851-9. p.63
↑ Terri Hooley & Richard Sullivan (2010). Hooleygan: music, mayhem and Good Vibrations. Belfast: Blackstaff. ISBN978-0-85640-851-9. p.83
Spit Records website - The Definitive Guide to Punk in Northern Ireland (1977-1982).
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