One of the most riveting British punk rock units of the early 1980s,
the Exploited could have cared less about mainstream pop sensibilities and insisted on keeping things raw and hardcore. With
the Clash having become more polished,
the Damned and
Sham 69 having gone downhill and
the Sex Pistols having disbanded,
the Exploited came to symbolize U.K. punk at its roughest. The Britons never had a major pop hit like
the Clash's "Rock the Casbah," but they had no problem commanding a devoted following in the punk underground and among the British working class. Punk doesn't get much more passionate and recklessly fun than On Stage, recorded live in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1981. The sound quality isn't great by any means, but the band's vitality comes through loud and clear on such angry, sneering classics as "I Believe In Anarchy," "Dogs of War" and "Cop Cars." This is material that no punk fan should be without. ~ Alex Henderson