November 1981 saw the release of Anti-Nowhere League's first single, a cover version of Ralph McTell's "Streets of London". The single peaked at No. 48 in the UK Singles Chart and spent five weeks in the listings. The profanity-laden B-side of the single, "So What" later became the group's anthem. Copies of this single were seized from indie distributor Pinnacle by the Metropolitan Police's Obscene Publication Squad shortly after release. "So What?" was covered by Metallica, being released as a B-side to the "Sad But True" single, and later included on the Garage Inc. album; "So What?" would go on to become an in-concert standard for Metallica.
We Are...The League is the debut album by Anti-Nowhere League. Original, first pressing European editions contained uncensored lyrics for the exaggeratingly self-deprecating "Animal". Later, the line in the song "I'm a child molester" was changed to "I'm your next door neighbor". My first US edition has the censored version. Is that artistically compromised to gain entry to the large US market? It also has a runout inscription not found as far as I know in the earlier editions across the pond: SO WHAT….
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