I actually got duffed up for pledging my allegiance to THE RUTS at school having just freshly inked their men-at-work logo onto my trusty rucksack; the fourth year’s resident hard bastard unceremoniously jumped me on. A year older than me and a QUEEN fan (just wouldn’t he be), he had no time for scabby little upstarts flirting with punk rock.
Needless to say, the bruises soon healed, but my affliction didn’t thank God. Twenty years on, and now in CD form, THE RUTS still regularly hi-jack my stereo.
This foolish adolescent nonsense aside, it’s difficult to convince Joe and Josephine Public of THE RUTS’ enduring greatness, purely because in rock’s annals their output barely fills a slim volume. Sure, in the cases of both THE SEX PISTOLS and JOY DIVISION, a spell as the Great White Hope and premature tragedy only enhanced the mythical shadows it’s possible to cast. However, despite the fact that this album (their only one officially) and four Top 30 singles in a hectic 12 months (1979-1980), such exalted status has largely eluded Southall’s finest.
Yet THE RUTS are a vitally important punky touchstone to be accessed. After all, hardcore heroes of the 1990S from FUGAZI to SNUFF to COMPULSION have siphoned off similar heady brews of dub-infused raw power, while influential contemporaries such as BLUR’s Graham Coxon have openly professed devotion.
Besides, it should be remembered that the climate heralding THE RUTS arrival in 1978 wasn’t exactly conducive. THE SEX PISTOLS had imploded messily and punk’s original thrust had dissolved as a host of anaemic power poppers began to emerge from the woodwork. In this situation, THE RUTS’ unashamedly punky stance was both uncompromising and swimming defiantly against the tide.
Initially released on the Brit reggae stalwarts MISTY IN ROOTS’ People Unite label, the RUTS’ debut single “In A Rut” remains a dubtastic slice of crunching intent to this day, although it’s usually their Top 10 Virgin debut single “Babylon’s Burning” that gets rounded up for inclusion on any number of present day retro Punk compilations.
Truth is, THE RUTS’ sole studio album proper, “THE CRACK” bristles with the kind of hook-laden rifferama and committed energy that we so often forget to demand from bands these days. Assisted by Mick Glossop’s bright production, THE RUTS had the advantage of radio-friendly tunes (with added muscle) married to intelligent, current issue lyrics and an only-too evident youthful vigour. Also, if you check out “Jah War” and the Armageddon commentary “It Was Cold”, you’ll believe they had the ability to both knock off THE CLASH’s spliff ‘n’ reggae crown or be expansive and epic if the mood took them.
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Openly supportive of ROCK AGAINST RACISM, THE RUTS’ numerous benefit gigs often attracted trouble with the band themselves called on to sort out gangs of right wing skinhead thugs – their classic, post –LP single “Staring At The Rude Boys” brilliantly portraying the threat of physical harm encountered at such shows.
In the face of this positivism, ace yobby vocalist MALCOLM OWEN’s succumbing to heroin on July 14th, 1980 (after a typically brave battle to quit) proved both tragic and ironic. The remaining trio of PAUL FOX, VINCE SEGS and DAVE RUFFY made two shockingly under-valued LPs (“Animal Now” and “Rhythm Collision”) as RUTS DC, before public indifference sadly killed them off. Of the three, DAVE RUFFY has remained especially active, gracing records/ tours with artists as diverse as AZTEC CAMERA and ROBERT FORSTER and consistently proving his worth as one of Rock’s very best sticksmen. Segs also recently resurfaced, teaming up with JOE STRUMMER for work on the “Grosse Point Blank” film soundtrack.
But that’s for the margins, because if you’re after passion that smacks you like a brick in the face allied to tunes the milkman could handle – and you should be, even post-Millennium – then look no further than “THE CRACK”. I know I’m still up for it, give or take the odd black eye.
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