Oh, come now. Oi all together wasn't a nasty movement? The problem was a lot of the crowd that became involved later on. A lof of good bands/musicians came from the oi scene, and while I do agree that there was a bit of a nasty element involved, it wasn't as widespread as many make it out to be. The troublemakers were the ones who stood out, and gave oi a bad rap. A perfect example is Sham 69. A band that was very outspoken about their politics, very anti NF, and staunchly anti-fascist. Debatetly, they somehow attracted the worst following of all the bands, which in turn pretty much ended their career. The violence that surrounded their gigs was the work a small number of bonehead skins, but enough to create mayhem that they didn't want. Oi has always been associated with football culture, which definitely has it's own beer swilling, lad phenomenon, so unfortunetly, the two go hand in hand I guess. Look at the two tone scene, which has had the same share of problems. It's a shame that bands like Madness, and The Specials have had this bizarre,small following of people that don't quite belong there. I still don't quite understand why these kids did, and still do, go to ska and oi shows, if not only to cause problems. They should stick to their sad little RAC shows on their compounds.

            People like Mensi didn't do too much good for the movement's reputation either. While the Upstarts stuff was pretty anti racist/ anti fascist as well, he made some very offensive, insensitive comments in an interview way back when, that will probably stay with him for a long time. I don't know too much about Gary "Gal Gonad" Bushell's recent politics, but he never was the sharpest tool in the shed. He has been a part of some great music. The Cockneys were a top band, as well as the likes of Cock Sparrer, Sham 69, Infa-Riot, Menace, Last Resort, The Business, Slaughter And The Dogs, etc. It's just too bad that many of them will always be associated with a small brigade nationalist thugs.