Entertainment

Out of all the Brit punk groups springing forth from the years ’76 and ’77 the Desperate Bicyles don’t generally receive their due. It’s a frustrating mess, that whole early discography of the scene. But the political ideology – that sounds significantly more academic than it actually is – backing the Bicycles’ first single is something that should have sparked an international movement. That didn’t happen, but it’s interesting that a band from Australia credit the London based band with lending them a political perspective from which its early songs were based.

The Thought Criminals occupy just about the same international cultural space that the Bicycles do. And while that latter band might be more consistent musically, what the Criminals were able to work up during the first stage of its career is on par with just about any DIY punker act from the era.

Collected on Chrono-Logical are the early would-be hits and the later relative failures of the Thought Criminals. There’s not a huge focus on the Orwellian future – at least in blatant terms. But it serves as bedrock for the majority of the songs here.

Most impressive is the fact that the Criminals were of such a staunch political position that “I Won't Pay” takes Malcolm McLaren to task for being a business man. Yeah, that’s completely apt. At the same time, though, without that man ruining the New York Dolls and organizing the Pistols, punk would look dramatically different than it does today. The song’s still pretty funny, though.