Teenage Kicks

For other uses, see Teenage Kicks (disambiguation).
"Teenage Kicks"
Single by The Undertones
from the album The Undertones
B-side"True Confessions"
Released21 October 1978 (21 October 1978)
Recorded
Genre
Length2:28
LabelSire
Songwriter(s)J. J. O'Neill
The Undertones singles chronology
"Teenage Kicks"
(1978) 		"Get Over You"
(1979)
Teenage Kicks
EP by
The Undertones
ReleasedSeptember 1978 (1978-09)
Recorded15 June 1978
Studio
  • Wizard Studios
  • (Belfast)
Length7:51
Label
ProducerDavy Shannon
Alternative cover
Fold-out of sleeve of original Good Vibrations release of Teenage Kicks EP
Music video
"Teenage Kicks" on YouTube

"Teenage Kicks" is the debut single by Northern Irish punk rock band the Undertones. Written in the summer of 1977 by J.J. O'Neill, the band's rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter, the song was recorded on 15 June 1978 and initially released that September on independent Belfast record label Good Vibrations,[6] before the band signed to Sire Records on 2 October 1978. Sire Records subsequently obtained all copyrights to the material released upon the Teenage Kicks EP and the song was re-released as a standard vinyl single on Sire's own label on 14 October that year, reaching number 31 in the UK Singles Chart[7] two weeks after its release[8]

The single was not included upon the original May 1979 release of the band's debut album The Undertones; however, the October 1979 re-release of this debut album included both "Teenage Kicks" and the Undertones' second single, "Get Over You".

Influential BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel is known to have repeatedly stated "Teenage Kicks" to be his all-time favourite song, from 1978 until his death in 2004. When he first played the song on his show on 25 September, he played the song twice (something he had never previously done).[9] Peel also specifically requested sections of the lyrics of the song be engraved upon his tombstone.[10]

In 2008, the song served as the theme song to the ITV sitcom of the same name.

The song Teenage Kicks features prominently in Season 3, Episode 5 of the television series Derry Girls ("The Reunion") which aired in 2022. In a flashback to 1977 (a slight inaccuracy), a cover band plays the song, referring to it as "our national anthem".[11][12]

  1. ^ Teenage Kicks: My Life as an Undertone ISBN 978-1-78558-180-9 p. 60
  2. ^ Eileen (1 July 2013). "News: Controversial Removal of "Teenage Kicks" Graffiti Piece in Ireland". 12ozPROPHET. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2013. The 'Teenage Kicks' mural was a reference to the 1978 punk rock song by the Undertones,
  3. ^ Claps, Andy. "Teenage Kicks - The Undertones | Song Info". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2013. It is now widely acknowledged as a classic -- a pop-punk standard that continues to point the way for countless bands on both sides of the Atlantic.
  4. ^ Runtagh, Jordan (8 April 2014). "Catchy, Loud and Proud: 20 Essential Power Pop Tracks That Will Be Stuck In Your Head Forever". VH1. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  5. ^ Ross, Graeme (7 June 2018). "Playlist: 10 best new wave singles of 1978". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26.
  6. ^ The Undertones.com. "Singles-Historical". Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Undertones". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 40: 29 October 1978 - 04 November 1978". officialcharts.com. 29 May 2011. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  9. ^ Cavanagh, David (2015). Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Life. London: Faber & Faber Ltd. ISBN 978-0-571-30248-2.
  10. ^ "John Peel Gets Teenage Kicks Epitaph". The Telegraph. 13 February 2008. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  11. ^ Brookover, Sophie (9 October 2022). "Derry Girls Recap: Teenage Kicks". Vulture. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  12. ^ Poniewozik, James (6 October 2022). "'Derry Girls': And Now Their Troubles Are Ended". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.