"All you've got to do is learn a few chords, try and put a rhythm together, and if you've got something in your head then put it out. Who cares whether you can fucking play all the notes. I don't care. No one cares." Tim Smith New Wave News 1977. 

Originally the band  rehearsed without a drummer and you can tell on the first single as they go slightly in and out of time.  Secondly the bass seems almost the lead instrument playing fills and runs while the guitar is scratchy with virtually no distortion on it.  At times they sound ramshackle but by No Time To Be 21 they are tight. Then suddenly its all change for Televisions Over and Back From The Dead - The guitar is heavier the bass is bassier and they sound quality. However for The Adverts they are stuck; mod and ska is coming on one side, then synth pop and the heavier faster punk on the other leaving them out in the cold.

What can't be doubted is The Adverts made a  stream of great singles  that stop my universe anytime they are played and that's more than enough for anyone and to secure their place in the punk firmament.

One Chord Wonders / Quickstep
 (Stiff Records May 1977)

Classic punk toon  and classic cover charting the fears of a band on stage. Song gallops along not quite in sync but it works. B-side IS overlong . 

"Gary don't need his eyes to see
Gary and his eyes have parted company !"

 Click to hear audio clip of 'Bored Teenagers' 

Gary Gilmores Eyes / Bored Teenagers (Anchor Records  September 1977)

Its a scorcher and a seminal punk classic- there's no doubt about it. The macabre tale of  American murderer Gary Gilmore coupled with the excellent Bored Teenagers first aired on the EMI live Roxy album and showing that if Gaye couldn't play she sure chose some difficult bass fills  !!!  The single was an unlikely top twenty hit but gave the band problems. Says TV Smith  "In popularity terms that was the high point. The only trouble was, it then froze: that was what people wanted from us...and a band that should have developed into something extraordinary was hampered by public expectation." England's Dreaming (p385)

A month after Gary Gilmore's Eyes this catchy number was released but bombed. God knows why because it's an excellent tune. Punk was already over a year old and it was a fairly accurate look at what  it had become. Ironically this new style punk band  succumbed to more traditional rock'n'roll problems: the  rhythm section hated each other. Gaye had a speed problem and Laurie had a small heroin problem !!

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No Time To Be 21 /New Day Dawning
(Bright Records February 1978)

For me one of my favourite Adverts  songs. Taut concise ..The drums launch straight into a bitter tirade against a classic punk backdrop. The record made 37 in the charts and another appearance on  television. This really was their last hit.