The Formative Years

The Exploited 

The Exploited is one of the bands that had an immense influence on me transitioning from metal into punk as a prepubescent. I vividly remember seeing their Pushead designed skull with mohawk logo patch on an older punk’s battle vest and thought it to be one of the coolest, most radical and quintessential punk designs I had ever seen, so I made a concerted effort to find an independent record store to spend my allowance on the compilation album Totally Exploited, which must have not left my CD player for the following month.

I loved their no-frills approach to playing speedy and aggressive punk, which paired with Wattie’s wild eyed demeanour and snotty vocal delivery lyrically attacking the system from all angles in the most blunt manner possible was what I was missing from the metal and other bands I was listening to at the time. 

It encapsulated the DNA of a style that with the input of bands like GBH and Discharge formed what became known and loved as the “UK 82” movement. The fact that the band seemed to be getting into all kinds of trouble with their anti-social antics, fighting with other bands like Conflict only added to their allure.

Following The Exploited’s evolution and a deliberate change of their sound, I also moved into faster, more metallic crossover territory. Their Death Before Dishonour LP from 1987 remains a favourite with its onslaught of blazingly searing riffs serving as the foundation for Wattie serenading us with his trademark barks. 

It heralded on new era of underground music that merged hardcore punk with thrash metal, creating a lane that later on helped to give birth to metalcore.