Misspent Youth

If you were to travel through England’s second city Birmingham between 1976 – 1980, in amongst the industrial sprawl you could not have failed to notice the name `Misspent Youth` graffitied throughout. This was not just another rebellious cry of teenage angst, rather the name of one of the city’s foremost Punk bands, and the epidemic proportion of graffiti a sign of their popularity (in fact it became so wide spread that a disclaimer letter had to be sent to the main local paper `The Birmingham Evening Mail` in order to prevent reprisals from the authorities).

Misspent Youth formed in 1975 and was influenced by the likes of The Stooges and The New York Dolls etc. The main line up consisted of John Buxton on Guitar/Vocals, Tony McIlwain on Drums, Stevie Cull on Bass/Vocals (later replaced by Peter Chapman on Bass) and could probably be best described as Glam-Punk. The band performed weekly throughout the British Midlands between 1976 and 1980 with residencies at bars such as The Barrel Organ and nightclubs like Rebeccas, The Lafayette and Barbarella’s. The band was unusual in its use of venues often staging many gigs at pubs not accustomed to live music and schools (girls in particular), building a considerable following. Their live peak came in 1978 at Barbarella’s night club in Birmingham when `The Spectrum` was sardine-packed with 1500 people. 

The bands media success came mainly in the shape of local radio play, regulars on BRMB`s evening rock show and culminating in 1979 with their only TV appearance supporting the Ska-Punk outfit `The Specials`. This was on the BBC`s `Look Hear` program hosted by Nymph-Punk Toyah Wilcox and only came about after 1000 fans petitioned the BBC for the band to appear, it was broadcast in January 1980.

It has to be said that their brand of Punk wasn’t always received with open arms (especially at some of the more unusual venues). For example there was the time the band played `The Lafayette`, Wolverhampton. In those days it was a bikers stronghold. The original booking was to have been the girl rock band Girlschool when they couldn’t make it the agency in their wisdom filled the gap with `The Youth`. Just to set things off on the wrong foot the band came on stage in pitch darkness and announced “tonight your expecting to see Girlschool, they couldn’t make it, so you’ve got the next best thing, US!” at this point the lights came on to the band wearing heavy makeup, the crowd were not amused and not surprisingly with a club full of sweaty bikers it wasn’t long before things got out of hand.

There was also controversy with their Record Company. Having recorded Betcha Wont Dance / Birmingham Boys at `The Specials` two-tone studios in Coventry the band approached Big Bear Records run by local entrepreneur Jim Simpson, after assigning it a catalogue number BB 20 the wheels went into motion for its release. However Big Bear kept on putting back the release date and eventually after heated exchanges Big Jim retorted “Take a walk around the block and get rid of some of that anger.” The band obliged and drove straight down to the pressing plant in Dagenham and after spending the night (5 people) in a Beetle promptly removed 950 copies of the aforesaid single (the other 50 having already winged their way to Big Jim). The majority were ditched in a local dump which is why today it is so hard to find a copy.

Often seen in the audience at `Youth` gigs were up and coming names such as Duran Duran, Dexy`s Midnight Runners, Boy George, Sigue Sigue Sputnik. A Misspent Youth gig was definitely an occasion to savour, but with the arrival of a London band using the same name (they issued a single entitled `17 Forever`) and no major interest from the Capital city the band’s days were always numbered and they split in 1980.

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The above is reproduced courtesy of Garden Records from the sleeve notes of the Cd release of Misspent Youth – The Punk Years 76-80.

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