Serious Drinking were an English humorous

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band from

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, England, whose lyrical themes often covered

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among ...

History

The band formed in February 1981, taking their name from a '' Sounds'' headline to an interview with The Cockney Rejects, with most members having met at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. Band members were Martin Ling (vocals), Eugene Rodgers (vocals), Andy Hearnshaw (guitar, formerly of The Farmer's Boys), Jem Moore (bass),

Pete Saunders Peter Saunders (born 1960) is an English keyboard player. Early life Saunders was born in Hammersmith in West London. When he was 14, his family moved to Birmingham. At the age of 16, he joined Pub Theatre and wrote songs and performed with the ...

(keyboards) also known from Dexys Midnight Runners and Lance Dunlop (drums). Their debut EP, ''Love on the Terraces'' (produced by Madness's Mark Bedford) reached number 9 on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the ...

in 1982, with follow-up "Hangover" reaching number 4 the following year. Debut album ''The Revolution Starts at Closing Time'' also reached number 4, and was followed up in 1984 by a second album, ''They May Be Drinkers Robin, But They're Still Human Beings''. After another single, "Country Girl Became Drugs and Sex Punk", Moore and Dunlop left the band. The new line-up continued with sporadic gigs. The band were firm favourites of

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

and recorded four sessions for his

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

show. "Love on the Terraces" also reached number 38 in the 1982

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

. A compilation of their finest moments, ''Stranger Than Tannadice – The Hits, Misses and Own Goals'' was released in 1990 on the Worker's Playtime label, to coincide with the 1990 World Cup, with a couple of singles also emerging in the 1990s.

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the

Singles/EPs

*''Love on the Terraces'' EP (1982) Upright (#9) *"Hangover" (1983) Upright (#4) *"Country Girl Became Drugs and Sex Punk" (1984) Upright (#8) *"Red Skies Over Wembley" (1993) Musical Tragedies *"Back Home 1966" (1996) Damaged Goods

Albums

*''The Revolution Starts at Closing Time'' (1983) Upright (#4) *''They May Be Drinkers Robin, But They're Still Human Beings'' (1984) Upright (#16) *''Stranger Than Tannadice – The Hits, Misses and Own Goals'' (1990) Worker's Playtime

Members

Eugene Rodgers, Martin Ling, Jem Moore, Andy Hearnshaw, Lance Dunlop, Glenville Williams, Karen Yarnell, Cathal Kennedy, Pete Saunders, Simon Charterton, Terry Edwards, Richard Sheldrake.

References

{{Authority control English punk rock groups