42 years ago, Irish trailblazers The Radiators from Space
put Dublin on the punk rock map with their debut album TV Tube Heart. The
Radiators were pretty much the only punk band in Dublin back then. Sure, a few others
followed their lead, but while London was burning to the Sex Pistols, Clash et
al, Dublin was a pretty solitary place for teenagers looking for something new
and exciting before and during the summer of '77. But what Dublin lacked in
quantity was redeemed by quality: the Rads were ours, and they were brilliant.
Sure, a little rough around the edges, but that's the way it was back then and
all the better for it. TV Tube Heart is basically the studio version of the
Rads' live set from 1977, ranging from the sublime pop of Enemies and Prison
Bars to the media assault of Sunday World and Press Gang, the theatrical
Electric Shares ('I'm gonna pull that switch - fry that son of a bitch'), to
the version of their debut single, Television Screen, a radical reworking that
signalled the band's future intent. If you weren't in Moran's Hotel back in
1977, this is an aural snapshot of what it was like the year punk exploded and
The Radiators from Space helped change some people's lives forever, mine
included. Music was that important back then.
John Byrne