The Starjets are a Northern Irish
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...
group from
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
, Northern Ireland.
History
The band was formed in June 1976.
The Starjets consists of guitarist/vocalist Terry Sharpe, guitarist/vocalist Paul Bowen, bassist Sean Martin and drummer Liam L'Estrange.
The group sported a mix of punk and mainstream
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
influences.
Early sets consisted of such 1960s pop standards as "
Please Please Me
''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two sin ...
" by
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and "
Sugar, Sugar" by
The Archies.
They opened for groups as diverse as the
Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity in the 1970s. They have been called the "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh" and one of many acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beat ...
and
Stiff Little Fingers.
The group secured a major
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
recording contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...
with
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
;
they were signed by
Muff Winwood. They released a number of
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
in 1979, with their only
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...
being "War Stories" b/w "Do the Push", which peaked at No. 51 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
The
A-side is a celebration of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
stories, such as those of
Sgt. Fury
''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos'' was a comic book series created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and published by Marvel Comics from 1963 to 1981. The main character, Sgt. Nick Fury, later became the leader of Marvel's super-spy agency, S.H.I. ...
. They released one
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
, 1979's ''God Bless the Starjets'', but it failed commercially.
Following the release of the "Shiraleo" single in March 1980, the band changed its name to Tango Brigade and released one more single, "Donegal", before finally splitting up.
After a brief stint performing
vocal
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...
duties with the
Angelic Upstarts (most notably taking lead vocals on the song "Reason Why?" from the album of the same title), Sharpe went on co-write a couple of tracks on Bananarama's debut album ''
Deep Sea Skiving
''Deep Sea Skiving'' is the debut studio album by British vocal group Bananarama, released in 1983. The album peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver by the BPI.
The inner-sleeve of the vinyl release contained nu ...
'', before scoring a Top 20 hit in 1988 with his new band
The Adventures
The Adventures were a Northern Irish rock/pop band, formed in Belfast in 1984 who had a number of hits during the 1980s and early 1990s.
The band moved to London where they signed to Chrysalis Records and released their first single in 1984. ...
.
The Starjets reformed in January 2019 and are performing live again. In 2020,
Billie Joe Armstrong recorded a version of "War Stories" for his covers album ''
No Fun Mondays
''No Fun Mondays'' is a compilation album of cover songs by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, released on November 27, 2020. The project consists of 14 cover songs released during quarantine for the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the "No Fu ...
''.
In March 2022, they appeared on ''
The Heritage Chart Show with Mike Read'', as broadcast on Local and
Talking Pictures TV, performing live in the studio. The Starjets were voted the most successful Heritage Chart Act of 2021, with singles such as 2020's "Geordie Best"
and 2022's "King Upon a London Hill" making it to the number one spot.
References
External links
Official website
on the Mod-Pop-Punk Archives (via the Wayback Machine)
Discussion
on BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...
's "The Saturday Magazine"
* Reviewof ''God Bless the Starjets'' in AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
Review
of ''God Bless the Starjets'' in Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starjets, The
British power pop groups
Punk rock groups from Northern Ireland
Musical groups from Belfast
Musical quartets