Sham 69 is highly regarded as one of the original trail blazers of the punk genre, ever since their creation in 1976. The band got its famous name from graffiti, with the lead vocalist Jimmy Pursey saying that it came from some faded graffiti they saw. It once said “Walton and Hersham 69”. But after the many years being up on the wall it had faded and just read sham 69. The graffiti was a reference to when the futbol club had won the Athenian title in 69'.

Ever since their creation their hard rock influenced music has had a politics heavy theme to it. Usually dealing with populist, left wing ideals like antifascism, anti capitalist and anti police. But even with their left wing politics, they had found their band and live shows being riddled with right wing skinheads/fascists, usually siding with the BNP or the National Front. They would use their shows are recruiting grounds to obtain more working class youths, and would usually cause many fights in their venues. They eventually ended doing live shows after a 1979 concert at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park where white power skinheads started fighting and rushed the stage.

The band would eventually break up in 1980, with Jimmy explaining in an interview with the anarchist, punk zine Flipside). He said, “I was forced into making it, you understand? I called it The Game because that’s how the music business had become to me. Like a little roulette wheel where everything we did had all of this political value to it, but it didn’t make any difference because you spin the wheel and if it landed on the right number you were all right, the wrong number and you were not all right.” He would eventually go on to join the Sham Pistols, but later left and focused on his solo career.
In 1987, Sham 69 were resurrected with a different line-up; Ian Whitewood on drums, Andy Prince on bass, Tony Hardie-Bick Tony Bic on keyboards and Linda Paganelli on saxophone. They later broke up in 2006, but Dave Parsons expressed he wished to continue playing under the name Sham 69. Parsons continued to play with Tim V on vocals instead. Later in 2011 Jimmy Pursey told BBC news of the re-formation of most of the 1977 line-up including Pursey, Parsons and Tregunna.
As of now both bands continue to exist with the band comprising of the three original band members in one being reffered to as the “Original 1977 line-up” and the other continuing with Tim V.