'Hoxton' Tom McCourt (born 1961) is the former bassist and bandleader of punk rock/ Oi! band, The 4-Skins. He was one of the most influential members of the

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

revival of 1977 to 1978, the

mod revival The mod revival was a subculture that started in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and later spread to other countries (to a lesser degree). The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence lasted for de ...

of 1978 to 1979 and the Oi! movement from 1979 to 1984. McCourt was born in

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...

, and was given the nickname ''Hoxton Tom'' by

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

supporters, at a time when a number of key people from outside West Ham's natural recruiting ground were given tags after the area they came from. He was and still is a

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

supporter, but went to West Ham United matches with friends, many of whom were part of the Inter City Firm (ICF), which he became associated with.

Career

Born in Shoreditch, London, England and an engineer by trade, Tom McCourt formed The 4-Skins in late 1979 along with Gary Hodges, Steve 'H' Harmer and Gary Hitchcock. Their first concert was in summer 1980, supporting The Damned and Cockney Rejects at the Bridge House in Canning Town. McCourt, Hodges and Harmer were all part of the Cockney Rejects road crew, as featured on the back cover of the album '' Greatest Hits Volume 1''. McCourt played guitar on The 4-Skins' first commercially released recordings (two songs on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

's 1980 punk compilation, '' Oi! The Album'') before switching to bass for the remainder of the band's existence. McCourt performed vocals in the song "New War", on the 1984 album ''A Fistful of 4-Skins'', and performed lead vocals on a re-recorded version of "Chaos", which was released for the first time on the 2000 4-skins compilation ''Singles & Rarities''. McCourt was a continuous member of the band through its original incarnation, writing all of the music from 1979 to 1984, as well as writing most of the lyrics after Hodges' departure. McCourt was also a DJ at skinhead/ mod bars and clubs in North and East London, such as the Blue Coat Boy at

The Angel, Islington The Angel, Islington, is a historic landmark and a series of buildings that have stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road in Islington, London, England. The land originally belonged to the Clerkenwell Priory and has ha ...

. He was known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of 1960s

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

. McCourt has not joined the reformed line-up of The 4-Skins because, in his opinion, the band "was about youth".

Subcultural associations

McCourt became a

in early 1977, in reaction to the way that punk had become commercialised, and seeking a sharper clothing style. The Black Sun Gazette credits McCourt, more than any other, with initiating and popularising the revival of the traditional skinhead subculture. In 1978, McCourt became a

roadie The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...

for the punk rock band Menace, and had become a

suedehead "Suedehead" is a 1988 single by English singer Morrissey, released on 15 February 1988. Co-written by Morrissey and former Smiths producer Stephen Street, the song was Morrissey's first solo release after the Smiths break-up. Morrissey was in ...

, possibly the first since the originals in the early 1970s. McCourt also became involved in the

of 1978 and 1979. The mod fanzine ''Maximum Speed'' identified him as one of the ''faces'' of the period, as did later books on the mod revival. His photograph was featured on the album liner of

Secret Affair Secret Affair are a mod revival band, formed in 1978 and disbanded in 1982 during which period their work is predominantly best-known. They reformed in 2002 and have since then produced an album in 2012. Career Formed after the demise of the ...

's ''Glory Boys''. McCourt wore the original skinhead and suedehead fashions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which were quite different from the styles worn by many Oi! skinheads and

white power skinhead White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...

s of the 1980s. Despite his dapper, dandyish appearance, McCourt had a reputation as a hard character. He took an uncompromising view against both the far left and far right, and was known as a

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

. The 4-Skins and their colleagues, Cockney Rejects, met and overcame violent opposition from both militant leftists and right-wing extremists. The Italian Oi! band, Asociale, wrote the song "Hoxton Tom for President" in appreciation of McCourt's street-based politics.

References

External links

The 4-Skins
4-Skins fan site with information about McCourt.
"Oi! – The Truth"
History of Oi!, with information about McCourt.
Hoxton Tom
Hoxton Tom Myspace fan page'
Suedeheads
Informative article on Suedeheads and includes Hoxton Tom. {{DEFAULTSORT:McCourt, Hoxton Tom 1961 births English bass guitarists English male guitarists Male bass guitarists English punk rock bass guitarists Living people People from Hoxton People from Shoreditch Road crew Oi!