Winston Blake,
Mark Gilham,
Chris Exall,
John Birch,
Ralph McTell
Formed: 1980
Disbanded: 1987
Genres: Rock
Representative Albums: "We Are...The League," "The Best of the Anti-Nowhere League," "Punk Singles and Rarities"
Representative Songs: "Streets of London," "We're the League," "I Hate... People"
Biography
There is an old expression about a blind pig finding a chestnut now and again, and that certainly rings true when addressing the overnight phenomenon known as the Anti-Nowhere League. Fronted by a codpiece-wearing goon of a lead singer with questionable personal hygiene who went by the name Animal, the League somehow managed to release one vulgar, loud, stupid, funny, thoroughly great EP, but hung around like a bunch of talentless louts who never got the message to clear off. Playing standard, raunchy, Sex Pistols-influenced punk rock, Animal cranked up the disgust factor either by uttering a string of obscenities or boasting about his indiscriminate taste in partners (including animals) in sexual intercourse. Like a punk parody worthy of Nick Lowe, the League actually got a lot of press when it looked as though their record was going to be banned in England and, or so it was whispered at the time, the U.S. Fortunately, it wasn't, and the grubby glory of this group became ours to cherish. They also recorded a few full-length albums (including a live one recorded in Yugoslavia). ~ John Dougan, All Music Guide
