Song · Sham 69
“I Don't Wanna” by Sham 69
Released 1977
“I Don't Wanna” by Sham 69 appears on 1 radio countdown from 1 station in 1977. It was first released in 1977. Its best result is #22 on the John Peel's Forgotten Fifty of 1977. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #22 alternative song of 1977 and #22 of the '70s.
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Sham 69 kicked the door in with "I Don't Wanna", their debut single, out in October 1977 on the independent Step Forward label. Frontman Jimmy Pursey wrote it with guitarist Dave Parsons, and the man behind the desk was an unlikely one for a gang of English punks: John Cale, a founder of the Velvet Underground, who produced the session at Pathway Studios in London that August. Flip it over and there were two more, "Ulster" and "Red London".
It did the business on the independent chart, and it was the only thing the band put out on Step Forward before Polydor signed them. Jill Furmanovsky shot the cover photograph.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 22 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Forgotten Fifty of 1977 | 61 |
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