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What have I accomplished? Terri Hooley becomes irritated when I compliment his many successes. He is tired of being labeled as The Godfather of Punk – he denies it. According to him, he is simply an aging hippy and punk music was the retaliation of hippies because they were ignored during the first wave.
I was informed that Hooley might be irritable because of the dialysis he receives three times a week, along with a demanding schedule which included DJing at recent shows featuring the Northern Irish punk bands he discovered – the Undertones and the Outcasts – as well as promoting the newly released biography Terri Hooley: Seventy-Five Revolutions, written by Stuart Bailie. When discussing this biography, Hooley becomes more animated. “I think it’s fantastic,” says the man who gave hope to the youth of the region by championing punk during the Troubles. “When Stuart first mentioned it to me, I thought he was crazy!” Hooley is now quite charming and happy to reflect on his extraordinary life.
“Seventy-Five Revolutions” is a publication released on December 23rd to commemorate Hooley’s 75th birthday. It tells the story of a life shaped by traumatic experiences and violence. Hooley was born in 1948 into a Protestant family in East Belfast. His father was a distant and authoritarian figure. When he was six years old, Hooley lost an eye in an accident, which further solidified his feeling of being an outsider. Music became a refuge for him at a young age, and by the time he was 17, he had established himself as Belfast’s top DJ. He also gained local notoriety for his opposition to the Vietnam war, which included confronting Bob Dylan at his concert in May 1966. Dylan responded by telling him to “go away”.
He has had numerous interactions with famous individuals, such as exchanging letters with Bob Marley in the 1960s, organizing Shane MacGowan’s inaugural concert in Northern Ireland (where he expressed concerns about Belfast and kept a low profile), kissing Cilla Black, and getting into a physical altercation with John Lennon. This incident took place while Hooley was visiting London around 1970 and was introduced to Lennon by acquaintances from Oz magazine. The former member of The Beatles mistook him for an IRA supporter and offered to provide him with weapons, in his days before embracing pacifism. Hooley admits that the encounter was not one of his proudest moments, as Lennon was under the influence of drugs. When he later shared the story with Cynthia, Lennon’s first wife, she jokingly said he should have hit him harder.
In the early 1970s, there was a high level of violence in Belfast surrounding him. He remembers, “When I was growing up, there were 80 clubs. However, when the Troubles began, all the venues closed down and people went home.” Despite this, Hooley chose to stay in Belfast and even started alternative magazines and illegal radio stations. He faced a kidnapping attempt by armed individuals, which only fueled his determination to promote nonsectarianism. In 1977, Hooley and his friends converted an abandoned building on Great Victoria Street into a record store, located on one of the most heavily bombed areas in Europe. The store was named Good Vibrations, named after the popular song by the Beach Boys, symbolizing both hope and sarcasm.
Due to the success of the shop, local punk bands were encouraged by Hooley to have their music recorded and promoted. He followed through with this, stating, “Just the act of bringing people together, giving hope to kids, and putting Belfast back on the map through music.” The fourth single released by the new Good Vibrations label was from a relatively unknown band from Derry. Hooley had a feeling that it was something special, but when he pitched the Undertones’ song “Teenage Kicks” to labels in London, they all rejected it. Despite being turned down by CBS, EMI, and others, Hooley persisted and even went to the biggest independent label at the time, Rough Trade. However, they also rejected the record, claiming it was the worst they had ever heard. Feeling defeated, Hooley returned to Belfast. But then, John Peel played the song twice in a row, changing everything.
The album Teenage Kicks has become a well-known classic, along with other releases from Good Vibrations by bands such as The Outcasts and Rudi, which helped to spearhead a highly creative music scene. However, due to the label’s limited budget and Hooley’s disorganized approach to business, only The Undertones were able to achieve widespread fame. Despite being a local hero for his passion and enthusiasm, Hooley faced discrimination and received death threats and a brutal attack at Good Vibrations for his stance against sectarianism.
Currently residing in the outskirts of Bangor, Hooley experiences PTSD. They do not go to sleep before 2:30am due to past experiences with loyalist drinking establishments closing at 2am and staying awake to see if they were going to be targeted. Despite knowing that it is unlikely to happen now, the trauma still affects their daily life. They had acquaintances who joined paramilitary groups and later felt remorseful about their actions. The paramilitaries who assaulted Hooley later apologized and have since converted to Christianity.
Hooley was declared bankrupt in 1982, but he remained active in the music scene of Belfast until 2015. Due to his declining health, he was forced to close his final record shop. Despite this, he was still celebrated in the Good Vibrations biopic, which was Mark Kermode’s favorite film of 2013. He was also featured in a jukebox musical of the same name, which received praise during its recent off-Broadway run by the New York Times. Additionally, Hooley was a part of the BBC’s documentary series Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland. It is quite remarkable for someone who lived a chaotic life fueled by drugs and alcohol, as Hooley himself admits. He reflects, “Sometimes I have to pinch myself – a film, a musical, and now a book all about me.”
Bailie’s lovely life story appropriately honors the “Belfast Cyclops” who is passionate about music and promotes harmony while being unaffected by material gain. According to Hooley, Good Vibrations served as a small haven of optimism during a tumultuous time in our country. “I may have been just as crazy as everyone else, but my desire was for love and peace, not aggression and animosity.”
Source: theguardian.com
