The Undertones mark 45 years of Teenage Kicks in Newcastle

"A teenage dream, so hard to beat."

When 16-year-old footballer Chris Rigg scored his first league goal for Sunderland, those were the words excitedly yelled by TV commentator Chris Mann.

Among those watching a young Sunderland side thrashed Southampton that day was one to whom those lyric meant more than most.

Billy Doherty's ears pricked up as soon as he heard those words, taken from the debut single by Northern Irish punk rock band The Undertones.

"Sunderland played really well," Billy tells me. "It was a great goal and the commentator used that lyric. It was terrific.

"I never really think about it, but it's great that 45 years on it still resonates."

The song in question is, of course, Teenage Kicks and Doherty, drummer for The Undertones, has been part of their story for nearly five decades.

In fact, it was Billy who came up with the name The Undertones.

He spotted the word in a school history book belonging to fellow band member John O'Neill and it instantly struck a chord.

"I thought it sounded a really good name," he says. "It had a reference to a sound - which I liked - and it ticked all the boxes."

However, it didn't go down too well with singer and frontman Feargal Sharkey, who had been on holiday at the time.

"Feargal saw it and he was raging, he didn't like it at all," says Billy. "But it was too late, and the rest is history."

If we're talking history, the story of Teenage Kicks is the stuff of punk rock legend.

Written in the summer of 1977 by John O'Neill, it really took off the following year when influential BBC Radio One DJ John Peel took it to his heart.

Billy Doherty, pictured left, says The Undertones owe a lot to John Peel, who champined their song Teenage Kicks throughout his life (Image: SONIC PR)

Billy played a major part in its success because it was he who first telephoned Peel, during one of his shows, to promote the record.

Peel agreed to play it, after which Billy and the rest of the band gathered at John and his brother Damian O'Neill's house.

"That's where we used to hang out, it was like our den - and we were there when John Peel played the record," says Billy.

"Immediately afterwards, he played it again. There was this stunned silence for a few seconds and then the place just erupted. It was totally unreal."

It was the first time Peel had ever played the same song back-to-back. He liked it so much that when he rated it using his scale of one to five asterisks, he awarded it 28 stars.

He consistently cited it as his all-time favourite song and stated that when he died he wanted the words "teenage dreams so hard to beat" engraved on his gravestone.

Billy says he only realised just how important the record was to the DJ when he attended Peel's funeral and Teeage Kicks was played as his coffin was carried out of the cathedral.

"It really did mean a lot to him," says Billy.  "We owe so much to John Peel. He definitely was a catalyst for getting the band a record deal and going on to have a career."

And what a career The Undertones have had.

A lyric from The Undertones' best-known song, Teenage Kicks, was recently used as part of a football commentary when 16-year-old Chris Riggs scored a landmark goal for Sunderland (Image: SONIC PR)

Teenage Kicks may remain their best-known and most-loved song, but they went on to have a string of hits - My Perfect Cousin, Jimmy Jimmy, Wednesday Week and It's Going To Happen to name just a few.

Energetic frontman Sharkey left in 1983 - he's best-known these days for campaigning against river pollution - and The Undertones disbanded shortly afterwards, its members going their separate ways.

But that wasn't the end for The Undertones. They reformed in 1999 - Paul McLoone replacing Sharkey as lead vocalist - and they have been touring ever since.

Billy -  who worked for a computer firm between gigs until retiring recently - says the band is not "a full-time thing" and he's never viewed it as a job.

"For me, I fulfilled my ambitions really quickly," he says. "The first one was to make a record, second was to have it played by John Peel and then to get on Top of the Pops. Anything after that was a bonus, I never saw the band as a career."

The band is presently in the middle of a UK tour to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Teenage Kicks and they'll be taking to the stage at The Boiler Shop in Newcastle - a city which brings back some memories for Billy - next week (Friday, October 20).

The Undertones are still touring, nearly 50 years aafter they first formed (Image: SONIC PR)

"Newcastle was the first place a girl ever asked me out on a date," he recalls. "I couldn't believe it, I was really shocked.

"We were doing a show in Newcastle and this girl, who was absolutely gorgeous, walked over to me and asked what I was doing that night.

"I froze, a girl had never asked me out before. I said no - I probably should have said yes. That's my most vivid memory of Newcastle."

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Now aged 65, Billy says he's very thankful to still be playing and is looking forward to being back in Newcastle - even if 45 years since the release of Teenage Kicks is difficult to comprehend.

"It's kind of hard to get your head around," he adds. "As a band, the way we approach things has always remained the same, ever since we formed and right the whole way through.

"We never took it for granted and I'm exceptionally grateful that we do shows and people attend and like them."

• The Undertones will be playing The Boiler Shop, Newcastle, on Friday, October 20, with special guests, the Neville Staple Band. Tickets available by visiting https://www.thegigcartel.com/Artists-profiles/The-Undertones.htm