Major Accident (also known as Accident) is a punk band from the North East … Read Full Bio ↴Major Accident (also known as Accident) is a punk band from the North East of England.

Early history
Major Accident was originally formed in late 1977 in Darlington.[2] Their first studio recording came in the early 1980s, when they recorded a single called Terrorist Gang with the B-side "Self Appointed Hero", and an early version of Massacred Melodies, which the band re-recorded in 1981 - this became their first LP. They planned to release "Warboots" from this session and got as far as test pressings before being signed by Step Forward records, home of Chelsea, Sham 69 and the Cortinas amongst others.

The band released their first single, "Mr Nobody", with Step-Forward Records before the release of their first studio LP. A UK tour supporting Chelsea helped promote the release of the record. They had UK Independent Chart hits with singles "Fight To Win" (no. 24) and "Leaders of Tomorrow" (no. 19, featuring drummer Evo, formerly from The Angelic Upstarts and The Blood who went on to form punk influenced thrash and speed metal NWOBHM band Warfare),followed by "Respectable" (featuring "The Big G" - Garteh Jones on drums) all released on the Flicknife Records label, as was the LP A Clockwork Legion, by which time the band's name had been shortened to "Accident". A live album, Tortured Tunes – the Official Bootleg, was released in 1984, reaching no. 24 on the Uk Independent Chart.[2] Around this time the band appeared on BBC2 playing three songs live.[3] American label Toxic Shock released a follow-up album ...Crazy! in 1985, just before the band split up.[1][4][5][6]

1996–present
Major Accident re-formed in 1996, once again using the full name rather than just "Accident". The re-formation was accompanied by a new studio album, The Ultimate High, released on We Bite Records, with a seven-inch single, Representation Not Reality, which was released in 1999 on Upstart Productions. The band's final release was a split album with Welsh street punks Foreign Legion entitled Cry Of Legion.[1][4][6][7][8]

Live performances followed, including a night at New York's CBGB in 2001 with a "clockwork punk" theme.[9] The band's activity was sharply curtailed when drummer Laze was involved in a motorcycle accident. The band currently plays just two or three concerts each year.

Clockwork punks
Major Accident popularized a punk style of dress based on the costumes worn in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange,[10] including bowler hats, white shirts, white trousers and black boots. Fans of the group, and sometimes members of Major Accident themselves, also occasionally wore fishtail coats, though more often they wore black leather biker jackets. The "clockwork punk" style also extended to an appreciation of Ludwig van Beethoven's music, again following the movie's protagonist. Major Accident played the composer's 9th Symphony with guitar, bass and drums in their interpretations The Glorious 9th and The March. Little evidence of any further interest in classical music was shown from the band.[1][4][5]

Major Accident's use of A Clockwork Orange imagery is also seen in the sleeve designs on their albums, with their early LPs, CDs and seven-inch singles using stark black and white imagery (though they began to include red after their 1996 reformation), and characters dressed in the Clockwork Orange style. Their final album in 1985 (before their reformation) ...Crazy! depicts a scene from the film, where the protagonist, Alex, is shown strapped into a laboratory chair, his eyes held open with metal clips.[11]

Other 1970s and 1980s Clockwork punk bands include The Adicts (whose version had a more fun, circus-clown emphasis), Die Toten Hosen (who released the themed album Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau), Blitz (who wore some of the dress later in their career) and The Violators who along with Blitz recorded on the 'No Future' record label. [12]

Bad Company
Major Accident Lyrics

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Always someone's going to criticize
Always someone puts you down
Always someone cuts you down to size
Always they push you around

Don't measure up to their conformity
Don't like the face that you wear
Don't let you be what you want to be

Don't like the way you don't care

Should we not have our identity
Should we not make up our minds
Why should we be each others enemy
Why should we always toe the line

They try to tell you, it's a passing faze
Be dead tomorrow, this youth cult craze

Live today, then you forget
You get from life, what you steal from it

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Major Accident's song Bad Company highlight the constant criticism and judgement that one may face in life. It talks about how there is always someone who puts you down, cuts you down to size and pushes you around. The song also highlights how people try to conform you to their way of living, how they want you to be someone else and not who you are.

The song urges you to be your own person and not conform to someone else’s expectations. It asks why we should be enemies and always toe the line. It questions why we should not have our own identity and why we should not make up our own minds. The song encourages you to live in the present and not worry about tomorrow, to not let your life be dictated by others, and to live life on your own terms.

Overall, the song emphasizes the need for individuality and self-expression, and the importance of being confident and true to oneself despite the negative opinions of others.

Line by Line Meaning

Always someone's going to criticize
There will always be someone who finds faults in you

Always someone puts you down
Someone will always discourage you

Always someone cuts you down to size
Someone will always try to humble you

Always they push you around
People will always try to take advantage of you

Don't measure up to their conformity
You don't adhere to their standards

Don't like the face that you wear
They don't like the way you look

Don't let you be what you want to be
They don't allow you to be yourself

Don't like the way you don't care
They don't appreciate your laid-back attitude

Should we not have our identity
Don't we deserve to have our own uniqueness?

Should we not make up our minds
Don't we have the right to decide for ourselves?

Why should we be each others enemy
Why can't we support each other instead of tearing one another down?