DEFACED |
The veteran DJ and former record company boss said: “It just goes to show, I must be doing something right when people to sneak out in the middle of the night to deface my mural.”
Terri Hooley in front of his wall mural
Terri Hooley
A wall mural honouring Belfast’s very own ‘Godfather of Punk’ Terri Hooley has been vandalised – and the musical legend says he’s “absolutely delighted” about it!
The veteran DJ and former record company boss said: “It just goes to show, I must be doing something right when people to sneak out in the middle of the night to deface my mural.”
The Sunday World recently revealed how a city centre renewal scheme had opted to acknowledge Hooley’s remarkable contribution to Northern Ireland’s music industry by commissioning a mural.
Sited on a gable-end wall site off Great Victoria Street in Belfast city centre, the Hooley mural is proving popular with locals and tourists alike, with many of them stopping to have their picture taken standing next to it.
Four months ago Hooley threw his weight behind members of the west Belfast rap band Kneecap, who at the time were being pilloried in the British tabloid press over their support for Palestine.
He said: “It’s clear the band was targeted by the pro-Israel establishment. And be in no doubt, this backlash is happening because of Kneecap’s support for Palestine.”
And they were backed by Belfast’s Godfather of Punk, who told the Sunday World: “I want people to stand back and look at the issue from a different perspective.
“Twenty thousand children have died in Gaza and no one can say anything, because it can be perceived as being ant-Jewish. That’s nonsense.
He added: “Anyone who’s been to one of my live shows will know I’ve said a lot worse than Kneecap about Tory MPs.”
In the 1970s, Hooley owned the niche Good Vibrations record shop, near the site of the wall mural now honouring him.
And he is credited with being the first record company boss to talent scout the Derry punk band The Undertones. Their smash-hit single Teenage Kicks went out on Hooley’s Good Vibrations record label.
In 2013 the movie Good Vibrations starring Richard Dormer – based on Hooley’s life – was a smash hit.
Hooley’s punk rebelliousness was legendary – and he often got abuse for crossing the sectarian divide.
He said: “At a time when the religious divide in Northern Ireland was most pronounced, we had kids from both sides of the community coming together in the name of music and there was rarely any trouble.”
He added: “Punk was anarchy, and I had been waiting for it all my life.”