Entertainment

Feargal Sharkey brands Undertones mural in Derry 'an absolute honour'

The new Undertones mural in Derry. Picture via @sanepolitico on X
The new Undertones mural in Derry. Picture via @sanepolitico on X The new Undertones mural in Derry. Picture via @sanepolitico on X
By David Roy

TERRI Hooley, the man who released their iconic debut single Teenage Kicks, got his very own mural in Belfast earlier this week - so it's only right that Derry pop punks The Undertones should now be adorning a wall in their native city.

Created by Karl Porter of UV Arts, also responsible for the city's much-visited Derry Girls mural, the new artwork on the gable wall of McCartney and Casey solicitors in Castle Gate was unveiled yesterday. It's a rendering of a photo by Laurence O. Doherty from the late 1970s which captured the young Feargal Sharkey-fronted band in the city's Bull Park.

Another photo from the same session was used for the cover of the band's eponymous 1979 debut album.

The Undertones was released on Sire Records in 1979
The Undertones was released on Sire Records in 1979 The Undertones was released on Sire Records in 1979
Artist Karl Porter with the new Undertones mural in Derry. Picture via @Feargal_Sharkey on X
Artist Karl Porter with the new Undertones mural in Derry. Picture via @Feargal_Sharkey on X Artist Karl Porter with the new Undertones mural in Derry. Picture via @Feargal_Sharkey on X

The former Undertones man and solo singer turned environmental campaigner gave the mural his seal of approval yesterday with a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he described it as "an absolute honour".

Mr Sharkey enthused: "WOW! How fantastic is that, what an absolute honour. My applause and appreciation to everyone involved, never thought for one second I would ever see myself staring down from Derry walls. Totally brilliant bit of work", before capping the statement with a trio of 'clapping hands' emojis and a 'smiling face with sunglasses' emoji.

Read more:

  • Mural to Belfast's ‘Godfather of Punk’ Terri Hooley unveiled
  • Former Undertones front man Feargal Sharkey hits out at former agriculture minister Edwin Poots
  • Undertones man Damian O'Neill on his superb new solo album An Crann

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Teenage Kicks, which was released via Terri Hooley's Belfast-based Good Vibrations record label.

The song was championed by the late BBC Radio DJ John Peel, who famously played it back to back on air and declared it to be "the record by which all others must be judged".

Peel, who died in 2004, has its lyrics "teenage dreams, so hard to beat" inscribed on his headstone.