Some might argue that the only "punk" thing about the UK Subs is frontman Charlie Harper. Case in point: The group was once banned from "Top of the Pops" for allowing fans to dance onstage during a performance. When Harper boasted that being kicked off the popular British chart show was the most gratifying moment of his music career, two of his bandmates at the time embarrassingly argued — in front of a journalist — that they had to get back on the set to market future singles.

What's punk about that kind of talk? But then, Harper's colleagues never really professed to be as anarchic as their frontman, who has occasionally described his bandmates as "pretty straightforward working-class guys" and even "rather right-wing." It's the frizzy-mopped, eternally teenaged lead singer himself who has always embodied the true spirit of UK punk.

In fact, the UK Subs aren't a band so much as one punk rock icon supported by an ever-changing backup cast and list of record companies. A passionately paid-up member of the punk fraternity, Harper has been going strong with various Subs behind him since he formed the group in 1976, originally as the United Kingdom Subversives. Their early style fused the new energy of punk with a rock 'n' roll edge, and the boys immediately turned out rowdy classics with their rebel frontman barking simple monotone lyrics on early hits like "C.I.D." and "I Live In a Car." ("I live in a car / Well I ain't got no yard / No ID card 'cause / I live in a car / Cops try to get me / But I don't care / I'm never there.")

It's a fitting anthem for a man who has clocked more mileage on a tour bus than any of his punk contemporaries since penning the song nearly three decades ago. Harper is notoriously hard-gigging, known to run the life out of bandmates and members of supporting acts half his age — which might explain the long list of peers who've stood behind him onstage.

In any incarnation, the Subs are one of the last surviving bands of Britain's punk Golden Age — an era defined by the Sex Pistols, the Clash and countless other bands who had gone their separate ways by the mid-'80s. A biography released with the Subs' 2002 DVD Warhead, a 25-year-anniversary concert, suggests the driving forces that have kept them rocking for so long are "fire and anger," elements missing in "this modern world of photogenic, manufactured pop karaoke artists."

Harper once told an interviewer that punk is an excuse for people like him to have his say. "People like me who never had a chance before — people who have just been laughed at. Blokes like me who have just been through life being sneered at, fingers pointing, 'That's the local nut-case.' When punk came along, it was the best thing that had ever happened to me."