Teenage Kicks: My Life As An Undertone by Michael Bradley
Published by: Omnibus
Release date: 2nd October 2025.

Undertones bassist Michael “Mickey” Bradley has written a likeable and entertaining version of the band’s story, from their origins in 1974 to their breakup in 1983. Originally published in 2016, it has been reissued as part of the excellent Omnibus Remastered series.

Bass players traditionally don’t have a lot to say, but Bradley is, after all, a radio producer and presenter so he evidently has a talent for communication: his style here is conversational and often funny. He also has a talent for storytelling.

There are a lot of great stories in this book but perhaps the best is about how they filmed the video for My Perfect Cousin.

The centre of the Undertones world had always been the family home of band members John and Damian O’Neill, and that was where they decided to shoot the video. Director Julien Temple and his crew arrived, the lights were set up, the band happily pretended to play Subbuteo… and the lights went out. They needed more 50p pieces for the electricity meter.

At this point they were already pop stars, with four top-forty singles behind them (My Perfect Cousin would become their only top ten hit). But, the way Bradley tells the story, they never stopped being the down-to-earth bunch of mates who started the band.

The story begins in 1974. Bradley is hanging around with a group of friends when they ask him to join their band. As is often the case, “it was theoretical at this stage”.

As things developed, it was all about friends and family connections in their close-knit community. When the band needed a singer, drummer Billy Doherty suggested his second cousin Feargal Sharkey. When original guitarist Vincent O’Neill left the band (his mother thought he should concentrate on O Levels), “the wee brother” Damian took over.

The O’Neills’ front room was where they obsessed over records, and an attic bedroom was where they first rehearsed (or “practised” as they put it, unwilling to appear like pretentious musos). By 1976 they had a band name, their own songs and a residency at a bar called the Casbah where they developed their craft. And they had discovered punk.

Although they saw themselves as punk rockers, the Undertones had “a strange relationship with punk”, feeling distanced from the London scene. Their image might have been perceived as “small town naivety” but they knew what they were doing: pursuing their own “punk ethos” by refusing to copy anyone else.

They also felt distanced from the Belfast scene, but that didn’t stop them releasing Teenage Kicks with Belfast label Good Vibrations. The photo shoot for that debut single, writes Bradley, “does accurately portray five friends having a great time being in band and enjoying a day off school”. That is also what’s portrayed in this book.

Touring was fun, until they got homesick for Derry. Meetings with management weren’t fun, because they’d rather have been at home playing football or hanging around record shops. Having hit records was fun, until it stopped. And that’s when the band, and the story, ends.

I can’t help wondering whether this history would have been told differently by one of the other band members. John O’Neill’s dedication to songwriting and Feargal Sharkey’s embracing of solo stardom suggest that they might not share Bradley’s happy-go-lucky approach to a musical career. Nonetheless, this is a great telling of the tale and a great read.

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Words by PENNY KILEY. You can read her Louder than War reviews at her author profile, and her archive music journalism on Substack.