Urgh! A Music War (1981)

For our list (with videos!) of "The Better Parts of Urgh! A Music War"* please come visit The Big Takeover!

Urgh: A Music War was a filmed document of the British and American punk and New Wave scenes circa 1980, while Derek Burbidge's film was not an artistic achievement on par with say, The Decline of Western Civilization, it's creation of a permanent visual records of oft-neglected but deeply influential bands was a gift to the ages.

Of the artists herein, The Police, John Cooper Clarke, The Go-Go's, Dead Kennedys, X and Devo have all been featured on this retro-fitted, nostalgia-driven backward-looking blog. (And more of them are yet to come!)

1. The Police – "Driven to Tears"
2. Wall of Voodoo – "Back in Flesh"
3..Toyah Willcox – "Danced"
4. John Cooper Clarke – "Health Fanatic"
5. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – "Enola Gay"
6. Chelsea – "I’m on Fire"
7. Oingo Boingo – "Ain’t This the Life"
8. Echo & the Bunnymen – "The Puppet"
9. Jools Holland – "Foolish I Know"
10. XTC – "Respectable Street"
11. Klaus Nomi – "Total Eclipse"
12. Athletico Spizz 80 – "Where’s Captain Kirk?"
13. The Go-Go's – "We Got the Beat"
14. Dead Kennedys – "Bleed for Me"
15. Steel Pulse – "Ku Klux Klan"
16. Gary Numan – "Down in the Park"
17. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – "Bad Reputation"
18. Magazine – "Model Worker"
19. Surf Punks – "My Beach"
20. The Members – "Offshore Banking Business"
21. Au Pairs – "Come Again"
22. The Cramps – "Tear It Up"
23. Invisible Sex – "Valium"
24. Pere Ubu – "Birdies"
25. Devo – "Uncontrollable Urge"
26. The Alley Cats – "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore"
27. John Otway – "Cheryl’s Going Home"
28. Gang of Four – "He’d Send in the Army"
20. 999 – "Homicide"
30. The Fleshtones – "Shadowline"
31. X – "Beyond and Back"
32. Skafish – "Sign of the Cross"
34. Splodgenessabounds – "Two Little Boys"
35. UB40 – "Madame Medusa"
36. The Police – "Roxanne/So Lonely"



The soundtrack for this incredible document remains stubbornly out-of-print although the Warner Brothers site does sell a non-remastered, non-restored DVD-R of the film itself on its website.


UAMW link is in the comments

AND speaking of comments, please leave us one about what YOU think are the better parts of the movie!