It was 1976, and the music had died in Northern Ireland.
Them had come and gone, Van Morrison had fled to a mountain near New York, many of the clubs and dance halls had closed or been bombed out of existence, and the only artists to brave the Province were Rory Gallagher and Horslips, who brought the Whit
la Hall down every year with Dearg Doom.
And then a one-eyed hippy discovered punk and changed everything.
His name was Terri Hooley, and in that year, he was selling records from his back bedroom and his only claim to fame was that he had once punched John Lennon.
The two met in London at the start of the Troubles, only for Hooley the hippy to discover that his hero wasn't the pacifist he expected.
"Me and a few friends had just set up a pirate radio station in the Craigantlet Hills and were in London to get equipment for it," said Terri.
"One of Lennon's friends brought us to a garage and showed us guns and asked us if we wanted to bring them back home. They obviously thought we were the lads. We were the lads, just not the ones they thought we were.
"Later that night I met Lennon himself and got in an argument with him about not being a pacifist. There was some talk of money being sent to the IRA and I chinned him. He hit me back."
The fight only ended when Hooley's artificial eye fell on the floor, although it didn't stop him falling out with Bob Dylan, meeting Bob Marley and having several riotous nights with Phil Lynott and Shane Magowan.
Then, in October 1977, punk officially arrived in Ulster with The Battle of Bedford Street, when the Clash's sold-out Ulster Hall show was cancelled at two hours notice, sparking a riot.
Serendipitously, Terri Hooley was in the process of opening the Good Vibrations record shop in a tumbledown building on Great Victoria Street which became the centre of the punk scene when he went to the Pound one evening and heard two bands, Rudi and The Outcasts. He was instantly smitten with them, and the Good Vibrations record label was born with the Rudi single Big Time, followed by releases from Victim, Protex, The Outcasts and The Undertones – a band he was very wary about taking on.
"I wasn't sure about them because nobody liked them. People crossed the road just to spit at Feargal Sharkey. Eventually I signed them. They went into the studio and recorded Teenage Kicks for £100 plus £8 VAT. I hustled it around every record company in London and they all hated it. I came back to Belfast and cried my eyes out. That night John Peel played it on the radio and said: 'Wasn't that the most wonderful record you've heard in your life?' and played it again."
It was the first record in the history of the BBC to be played twice in a row and remained John Peel's all-time favourite record.
The Undertones effectively made Good Vibrations' reputation, and Teenage Kicks was hailed as one of the most important recordings of the era.
