VA - Swagger and Strut (A Butterboy Compilation) (6 x CDs)

SWAGGER and STRUT

VA - Swagger and Strut (A Butterboy Compilation) (6 x CDs)

This compilation started with a simple idea: capture the swaggering, mid‑tempo punk energy that The Clash nailed with Should I Stay or Should I Go. That groove, riff‑driven, chant‑ready, playful but defiant, became the thread tying everything together.

Swagger and Strut was never meant to be a history lesson. You already know the headlines, the safety pins, the sneers, the three‑chord myths. What I wanted to build here is something different: a six‑disc walk through punk’s attitude, not its chronology. This is a box set about the way punk moves, the shoulder‑roll, the street‑corner confidence, the sideways grin that says “I’m not here to fit in.” If punk had a gait, this is it.

Across these 120 tracks, you’ll hear the familiar anchors, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Ramones, Undertones, but they’re only the doorway. The real story lives in the corners, in the singles that never made it past a few hundred copies, in the bands who pressed their own 7‑inches because no one else would. That’s where the swagger sharpens. That’s where the strut becomes unmistakable.

You’ll meet The Zips, whose Take Me Down still sounds like it’s kicking open a rehearsal‑room door. The Users show up twice, because when a private‑press punk single hits this hard, once isn’t enough. The Cigarettes, The Wasps, The Desperate Bicycles, The Normals, The Glueams, The VKTMS, these aren’t just deep cuts, they’re the kind of records that lived entire lives in basements, bedrooms, and back‑issue bins before collectors dragged them into the light. Some of these tracks were pressed in runs of a few hundred. Some barely escaped their hometowns. All of them carry that unmistakable pulse: raw, stylish, and absolutely alive. The rarities here are the heartbeat of the set, scarce, self‑pressed gems that capture punk’s raw urgency, independence, and underground fire.

But swagger isn’t just noise, it’s groove. It’s the strut of The Ruts, the mod‑sharp confidence of The Jam, the art‑punk angles of Pere Ubu and The Fall, the sly hooks of The Boys, The Lurkers, The Radiators from Space, and The Skids. Even the left‑field choices, Au Pairs, Raincoats, Monochrome Set earn their place because attitude isn’t a genre, it’s a temperature.

Included in the Box set are the following:

CD1 The Foundations of Swagger     The big anthems set the tone here. Clash, Buzzcocks, Ramones, Undertones, the tracks that taught punk how to walk tall. This disc lays down the groove and attitude that everything else builds on.

CD2 Sharp Edges and Street Corners     Mod‑punk, ska, and art‑punk collide in a set full of angles and confidence. The Jam, Specials, Gang of Four, songs that stride with purpose and show how wide swagger can stretch.

CD3 The Art‑Punk Pulse     This is punk’s left‑field swagger: Pere Ubu, The Fall, Slits, Raincoats, Au Pairs. Strange, sharp, inventive, but always driven by attitude. It’s groove from the margins.

CD4 Boots on the Ground     Street‑level strut from bands who lived it. Ruts, Hot Rods, Members, Skids, plus rarities like Zips, Users, and Pigs. This disc feels like rehearsal rooms and tiny stages shaking underfoot.

CD5 The Deep‑Cut Swagger Vault     The rarest cuts in the box. Wasps, Cigarettes, Desperate Bicycles, VKTMS, Weirdos, DIY swagger pressed in tiny runs and rescued from basements and back‑issue bins. Pure collector gold.

CD6 The Wild‑Card Closer     A final sweep across punk’s wider map: US strut, Aussie swagger, UK DIY grit. Nervous Eaters, Pagans, Avengers, Boys Next Door. A last burst of movement and attitude.

Think of this box as a map of punk’s many ways of walking. Some tracks stomp, some glide, some swing with a crooked smile. But every one of them carries that same spark, the one that says: I’m here, I’m loud, and I’m moving forward. This is a walk‑tall, chin‑up, street‑smart anthology of punk and post‑punk attitude, a snapshot of punk’s communal heart, a time when anyone with a guitar and attitude could press a single, shout back at the world, and leave behind a piece of history. These tracks are defiant, and they sound like they were made to sit next to The Clash. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go 3:08 1982

02 Undertones - Teenage Kicks 2:26 1978

03 Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) 2:40 1978

04 Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated 2:28 1978

05 Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia 3:45 1980

06 Jam - A Town Called Malice 2:53 1982

07 Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant 3:17 1977

08 X - Los Angeles 2:25 1980

09 Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster 2:43 1978

10 Damned - Smash it Up 2:56 1979

11 Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - Bad Reputation 2:47 1981

12 Knack - My Sharona 4:00 1979

13 Blondie - One Way or Another 3:35 1979

14 Paul Westerberg - I Will Dare 3:17 1984

15 Pretenders - Brass in Pocket 3:04 1979

16 Television - See No Evil 3:52 1977

17 Go-Go's - We Got The Beat 2:31 1980

18 Ruts - Babylon's Burning 2:32 1979

19 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away 3:34 1983

20 Clash - Rock The Casbah 3:42 1982

CD2

01 Modern Lovers - Roadrunner 4:06 1976

02 Specials - A Message to You Rudy 2:52 1979

03 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Pump it Up 3:19 1978

04 Talking Heads - Life During Wartime 3:41 1979

05 Cure - Boys Don't Cry 2:34 1979

06 Siouxsie and The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden 2:54 1978

07 Alarm - Sixty Eight Guns 5:51 1983

08 Stranglers - No More Heroes 3:28 1977

09 Wire - I Am the Fly 3:08 1978

10 Gang of Four - Damaged Goods 3:26 1978

11 Rezillos - Top of the Pops 3:20 1978

12 Billy Idol & Gen X - Dancing With Myself 3:18 1980

13 Saints - (I'm) Stranded 3:29 1976

14 Adverts - Gary Gilmore's Eyes 2:14 1977

15 Skids - Into The Valley 3:15 1979

16 Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom 2:02 1980

17 Teardrop Explodes - Reward 2:43 1981

18 Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation 2:44 1977

19 Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer 3:06 1977

20 Carpettes - Small Wonder 2:01 1978

CD3

01 Minutemen - Corona 2:25 1984

02 H sker D - Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely 3:32 1986

03 Descendents - Suburban Home 1:42 1982

04 Fall - Totally Wired 3:26 1980

05 Cramps - Human Fly 2:14 1978

06 Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United 3:49 1978

07 Echo & The Bunnymen - The Cutter 3:53 1983

08 Pere Ubu - Final Solution 4:59 1976

09 Slits - Typical Girls 3:59 1979

10 Saints - This perfect day 2:12 1977

11 Gun Club - Sex Beat 2:48 1981

12 Boys - Brickfield Nights 3:14 1979

13 Mekons - Where Were You? 2:44 1978

14 Au Pairs - It's Obvious 5:43 1981

15 Raincoats - Fairytale in the Supermarket 2:59 1979

16 Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet 3:03 1978

17 Monochrome Set - He's Frank (Slight Return) 2:42 1979

18 Jam - In The City 2:19 1977

19 Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap 4:56 1978

20 Radiators From Space - Television Screen 1:52 1977

CD4

01 Ruts - West One (Shine on Me) 2:57 1980

02 Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway 3:17 1977

03 Boys - First Time 2:19 1977

04 Eddie and The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do 4:03 1977

05 Jam - Going Underground 2:55 1980

06 Vapors - News at Ten 3:22 1980

07 Chords - Maybe Tomorrow 3:12 1980

08 Zips - Take Me Down 2:40 1979

09 Skids - Working for the Yankee Dollar 3:39 1979

10 Members - The Sound of the Suburbs 3:17 1979

11 Boomtown Rats - Looking After No. 1 3:08 1977

12 Users - Sick of You 3:35 1978

13 Pigs - Youthanasia 2:47 1977

14 Shapes - Wot's for Lunch Mum? (Not B****s Again!) 1:32 1979

15 Zips - Take Me Down 2:38 1979

16 Vibrators - Baby, Baby 3:40 1977

17 Lurkers - Ain't Got A Clue 2:11 1978

18 Undertones - My Perfect Cousin 2:35 1980

19 Adverts - My Place 2:50 1979

20 Ruts - Staring at The Rude Boys 3:13 1980

CD5

01 Wasps - Jjjenny 2:33 1977

02 Cigarettes - They're Back Again, Here They Come 3:31 1979

03 Desperate Bicycles - The Medium Was Tedium 2:17 1978

04 Carpettes - Small Wonder 2:01 1978

05 Scars - Horrorshow 2:57 1979

06 Outcasts - Self Conscious Over You 3:11 1979

07 Zeros - Wild Weekend 1:33 1977

08 Nerves - Hanging on The Telephone 2:04 1976

09 Next - Monotony 2:24 1978

10 Nitwitz - Not for Me 1:58 1980

11 Kids - Fascist Cops 2:30 1978

12 Rings - I Wanna Be Free 2:51 1977

13 Weirdos - We Got the Neutron Bomb 3:00 1977

14 VKTMS - 100% White Girl 2:00 1980

15 Skunks - Cheap Girl 3:43 1979

16 Freeze - I Hate Tourists 2:29 1979

17 Drones - Bone Idol 1:54 1977

18 Boys - Brickfield Nights 3:14 1979

19 Boys Next Door - These Boots Are Made for Walking 2:42 1978

20 Wasps - Can't Wait Till '78 2:49 1977

CD6

01 Lurkers - Freak Show 2:19 1978

02 X - Your Phone's off the Hook, But You're Not 2:25 1980

03 Nervous Eaters - Loretta 2:16 1976

04 Pagans - Street Where Nobody Lives 1:39 1978

05 Donkeys - Don't Go 3:23 1979

06 Zeros - Wimp 2:35 1979

07 Normals - Almost Ready 2:20 1978

08 Subhumans (Can) - Firing Squad 3:11 1979

09 Proles - Soft Ground 2:15 1979

10 Avengers - We Are The One 2:40 1977

11 Boys Next Door - Shivers 4:34 1979

12 Outcasts - Justa Nother Teenage Rebel 3:15 1978

13 Radiators From Space - Enemies 2:39 1977

14 Glueams - Mental 2:15 1979

15 Vapors - Turning Japanese 3:45 1980

16 Normals - Vacation to Nowhere 1:51 1978

17 Flys - Come on Stupid 3:35 1978

18 Jam - David Watts 2:54 1978

19 Rezillos - Destination Venus 3:37 1978

20 Users - Sick of You 3:25 1978

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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