Bad Manners

Bad Manners were a second wave or Two Tone English Beat ska band. They rode the wave of ska's popularity in the late seventies and early eighties with hits including 'My Girl Lollipop', 'Lip Up Fatty' and 'Special Brew'. Fronted by Buster Bloodvessel the band was formed in 1976 while the members were at school together; this was despite not having any formal musical training or even the ability to play any instruments. One of the main reasons for their notoriety was because of their outlandish front man. Buster's exploits got them banned from the British chart show Top of The Pops and even from the whole of Italy for ten years; Buster decided after a particularly successful concert that he should moon (reveal his derrière) the crowd only to find that the Pope was in the audience (though why he was there remains something of a mystery). Despite many hits and featuring prominently in the charts of the early eighties they are perhaps most renowned for their song Special Brew. It has been argued that the song is ambiguous in meaning but the most common interpretation of the song is as a love song to the famous drink which it appears to be named after. Although Bad Manners dropped out of the charts they gained increasing popularity as a live band and are touring to this day.