Formed: Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England, UK
A History Of The Jerks - written by Jerk's guitarist Paul Gilbert and taken from the liner notes to We Hate You.
Having witnessed the 1976 'Anarchy In The UK' tour, five teenagers from West Yorkshire met in an a dilapidated garage and plugged in to create their own blend of noise, attitude and disturbance. This garage produced Yorkshire's most successful punk rock band who outsold Abba in that part of the world and entered the top 100 with their debut single Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me (definitely one of punk's best debut records, released on their own Underground Records). To this day it remains one of the fastest records ever recorded. [Punky Gibbon note: try telling that to MDC or JFA.]
Now selling for considerable sums of money, the tracks have been included on many of the legitimate and bootleg compilations from the era, the front cover of the single being used for one of the early volumes of Killed By Death. The success of the single ensured gigs were plentiful and tours followed with Penetration, Generation X, XTC, The Adverts and Sham 69.
Their increasing profile bought them to the attention of Lightning who promptly signed them while the major labels deliberated, this deal saw the release of their second single Cool in 1978, produced by ex-Rolling Stones producers Bill Farley and Dave Hunt.
Lightning developed into Laser under the wing of Warner Brothers. The band relocated to London and recorded their third and final single Come Back Bogart (I Wish You Would) in January 1980. Despite good reviews and Radio 1 play the single failed to sell, so in the Spring of 1980 the band decided to call it a day.
The Jerks exemplified British punk rock: raw, urgent, fast and provocative. A strong visual image and no shortage of potential hit songs. With more vigorous marketing and a larger slice of luck, the ending could have been a lot different.
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DISCOGRAPHY
Singles & Albums
Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me (7", 1977)
Cool (7", 1978)
Come Back Bogart (I Wish You Would) (7", 1980)
Extraneous Releases
Jerk Off (LP/CD, 1997)
We Hate You (CD, 2001)
Various Artists
Killed By Death #4 (Raw Rare Punk Rock 77-82) US LP 1989 (Redrum): Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me
Short Sharp Shock UK CD 1996 (Overground): Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me / Hold My Hand
Lightning Records Punk Collection UK CD 1996 (Anagram): Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me / Cool
Young Raw Sounds UK (Rare Punk Vol 1) UK LP 1997 (Zeus): Come Back Bogart
Cool Punk UK CD 1999 (New Sound 2000 Ltd.): Come Back Bogart / Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me / Cool
Action Time Vision (A Story Of Independent UK Punk 1976-1979) UK 4xCD 2016 (Cherry Red): Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me
1977: The Year Punk Broke UK 3xCD 2019 (Cherry Red): Hold My Hand
Optimism / Reject (UK D-I-Y Punk and Post-Punk 1977-1981) UK 4xCD 2019 (Cherry Red): Cool
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