Patrik Fitzgerald
Patrik Fitzgerald ( born March 19, 1956 in Stratford, London ) is an English singer and punk poet.
After he was briefly appeared as an actor and had tried unsuccessfully to become a member of the band London SS Mick Jones, he began with the advent of the punk movement in 1977 set to music of his poems. His first EPs he released on Small Wonder Records. Probably the first of these, Safety - Pin Stuck In My Heart contains his best-known work today. The British music press tried for a time to use him as Bob Dylan of punk, but its commercial success was rather modest. After all, he toured in 1977 with The Jam and in 1978 received a record deal by Polydor.
The first LP Grubby Stories was produced somewhat more complicated than the previous EPs, but still consisted mainly of short, presented for acoustic guitar songs with heavily ironic ("I do not want to be your hero" ) and socially critical songs ( Adopted Girl ). On one of the pieces that make it safe, he announced the sell-out and the end of punk at a time when the game was just perceived in Germany as a phenomenon. ( "Punk is not gonna change the world. " -. "They turn it into a joke, did anything threatens them" )
The published 1986 LP Tunesian Twist was the musical style radically different from earlier works. With drums, keyboards, and even horns apparently he tried to hit a wider audience taste. Substantially, the pieces still remained but an expression of standing next to all currents outsider of the music industry.
In 1988, he moved to France where he worked as a waiter. He now lives in New Zealand.
In 1994 a compilation CD, which, however, with a focus on the early years, contains a selection of his work, and introduces him as a master of short, melodic punk songs.
Discography - Selection
- Grubby Stories LP 1978
- Gifts & Telegrams, LP 1982
- Drifting Towards Violence LP 1983
- Tunisian Twist, LP 1986
- Treasures from the Wax Museum, 1993
- The very best of Patrik Fitzgerald, 1994
- Pillow Tension, 1995
- Floating Population, 2006