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This great documentary about one of the twentieth century's greatest musical acts gets a DVD release.

Teenage Kicks - The Story Of The Undertones

"Features one of the best rockumentaries ever produced." - The Sunday Times.

An extensive collection from one of Northern Ireland's premiere punk/pop bands of all-time.

This forthcoming DVD release follows the top 40 success for the 20-track The Best Of The Undertones, just released by Sanctuary Records. Part punk thrash, part melodic pop, Derry's Undertones were one of the few bands of that era whose music has stood the test of time.

Zeitgeist

Their distinctive sound has recently become part of the zeitgeist, as advertising agencies have utilised their songs in everything from mobile phone to bagel TV adverts. Over 23 years later, the music of The Undertones remains as popular as ever. The soundtrack of a generation has come full circle and shines bright in 2003.

The DVD includes seven of the band's original promo videos taken from their most celebrated hit singles - Teenage Kicks (1978), My Perfect Cousin (1980), Wednesday Week (1980), It's Going To Happen (1981), The Love Parade (1982), Got To Have You Back (1982), and There Goes Norman (1980).

Northern Ireland - 1975; the Teenage Kicks documentary chronicles the lives of five teenagers who banded together and created music that made an impact on the ever-burgeoning punk music scene; and did so with a vigorous and joyous celebration of their own existence.

Fronted by former choirboy and distinctively voiced lead singer Feargal Sharkey, with John and Damian O'Neill (aka 'The O'Neill Brothers') on guitars, Michael Bradley on bass, and Billy Doherty on drums, they called themselves The Undertones.

In the documentary Teenage Kicks, pioneering BBC Radio DJ John Peel made his first visit to Derry in 2000, and discovered the band that recorded his all-time favourite 2-minute plus pop song, Teenage Kicks. The film was eventually premiered in 2001. This is the very first time the critically acclaimed documentary has been released on DVD.

The city that Peel visits has changed considerably since the mid-seventies, but through the use of previously rare and unseen archive footage, the film documentary takes the viewer back to that time and to the birth of The Undertones phenomenon.

John Peel

Peel embarks on a journey of discovery in which he expresses his amazement at the band's apparent innocence, and the completely artless way in which the band resisted the hype of stardom and all the trappings of fame. The Undertones refused to take their gradual success seriously. They would perform to sold-out concerts of adoring fans, and at the end of the evening they would return home to their parents, who, in turn, waited up for them. Despite their limited ambitions, or paradoxically as a direct result of them, they achieved global success.

DVD extras include:

Full length cinema version of the Teenage Kicks documentary with John Peel and the Undertones

Additional exclusive and previously unseen interviews with the band.

Exclusive film of the band's reunion in 1999.

The Teenage Kicks documentary is supported by The National Lottery through The Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Produced with the assistance of Bord Scannan na hEireann/The Irish Film Board. In association with the BBC.

7 original promo videos for:

Teenage Kicks (1978)
My Perfect Cousin (1980)
Wednesday Week (1980)
It's Going To Happen (1981)
The Love Parade (1982)
Got To Have You Back (1982)
Plus the ultra rare There Goes Norman (1980)

the feature is presented in 16:9 widescreen ratio, with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound. All seven promo videos are restored and remixed in 5.1 surround sound. Total Running Time 128 mins (approx.)

The Best Of The Undertones CD and the film Teenage Kicks - The Story Of The Undertones on DVD are out both out now, from Sabcyuary Music and Sanctuary Visual Entertainment respectively. This DVD has an 'E' Certificate (exempt from classification)

More information available in DVD / Home Video, Music