Oi!

Oi! is a working-class British punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s as a deliberate reaction against post-punk's art-school abstraction. Built from early punk, pub rock and glam, its sound rests on straightforward distorted guitar riffs, propulsive bass and forceful drumming beneath declamatory lead vocals and collective, football-terrace choruses designed for chanting. Lyrics address unemployment, street life, football and working-class solidarity. Named by journalist *Garry Bushell* after the *Cockney Rejects*' "Oi! Oi! Oi!", the genre, led by *Cock Sparrer*, the *Angelic Upstarts* and the *4-Skins*, was codified by the compilation "Oi! The Album" (1980) before controversy over skinhead associations drove it underground, where international scenes have sustained it since.