The Good Vibrations record label was founded by the irrepressible Terri Hooley. Terri had been involved in the local music scene for a number of years, prior to opening the Good Vibrations record shop. Terri had sold mail order records from his home while holding down a job with Kodak, at their photographic processing plant. As the record sales increased, Terri and some friends began selling their wares at St. Georges Market. Around this time, Dave Hyndman, an old friend of Terri's, obtained the lease on a derelict building in Great Victoria Street and set up a community printing press there. Needing other people to help pay the rent, he asked Terri if he would be interested in opening a record store. Hooley agreed and duly moved into the first floor. Terry recalls, “I set up Good Vibes by buying 1,000 singles for £40 and selling them out of my back bedroom. When there was no space left we took over this derelict building at 102 Great Victoria Street." The premises had been derelict for so long that the landlord gave Terri the first six months rent free; such was his keenness to have his property occupied.

Opening towards the end of 1977, Terri's tiny upstairs record store soon became a focal point for young punks in the Greater Belfast area. As you approached the premises from either direction, you were greeted by a life-size wooden cut-out of The King, Elvis Presley, which pointed with an outstretched hand to a stairway to another world. The Elvis sign was kidnapped three times and on one occasion Terri had to pay students at Queens University a ransom to get him back!

Inside the store was a virtual Aladdin’s Cave for starry-eyed youngsters who frequented it. There was an abundance of all the new Punk / New Wave records and fanzines and you could always find a box of cheap singles by lots of weird, wonderful and obscure artists (all of which are probably rare collectors items today and worth a small fortune!). There was also a healthy sprinkling of foreign imports too! Even if you hadn't the money to buy anything, it was always worth a visit just to look at all the new goodies on offer and gaze enviously at all the killer picture sleeves that adorned the walls. It was also a great place to meet kindred souls, as any punk / punkette worth their salt used the shop as the place to hang out! Upon leaving, you could always pinch a gig poster or two from the selection that adorned the stair walls, if no one was looking, of course! Sean O’Neill recalls “I can remember getting chased down the stairs by Terri because I was nicking gig posters from the wall. I always tried to take my time so as not to rip the posters on the staples, so this increased the risk of being spotted. I still have some of those posters and they are now featured on this web site!”

One night in early January 1978, Terri and a couple of his old hippy buddies attended a gig at the Pound, a gig that would have a profound effect on his life! Terri recalls, "One of the guys who never went to school and tortured us all day long (Wee Gordy Owens aka Fangs), told me about this gig that was happening with Rudi and the Outcasts at the Pound. Rudi were great but what really impressed me was when the cops turned up with the UDR and all hell broke loose. Part of it was to do with music but the other part was to do with teen rebellion. These kids had no fear of the army or police. I just thought, “Fuck it, this is what I've been waiting for all my life, anarchy!” Terri hated the Outcasts but instantly fell in love with Rudi, and a plan was hatched to make a flexi-disc of Rudi's Big Time, which was to be given away with copies of the Alternative Ulster fanzine. Terri was to finance the venture and soon discovered that it was just marginally more expensive to press a proper vinyl 7" single than a flexi. Plans were changed and two Rudi tracks Big Time / No. 1 were recorded at Hydepark Studios in Templepatrick on 7th February 1978 in three hours. The finished product (catalogue number GOT 1) was on sale in Terri’s shop in April. Initially 3,000 copies of the single were pressed by EMI in Dublin. It sold out quickly and was repressed with a dreadful new sleeve in October 1979. John Peel at Radio One played the Rudi single on its release, but even though Terri sent copies to nearly every record company in England he got no reaction.

For the first time since the ‘Sixties’, Belfast had given birth to it's own music scene and Good Vibrations was in the perfect place to document on vinyl the soundtrack to the teenage rebellion that was taking place on Terri’s own doorstep. Like many small label bosses, Terri was an enthusiast and true fan of the new music coming from the streets. He was an original member of the Harp Bar committee and helped found the Punk Workshop and regularly did DJ at local gigs. The new Good Vibrations record label produced regular newsletters to keep the punters informed about what was happening on the local record and gig front. With an onsite print workshop, record sleeves, fanzines, gig posters etc., were produced at a relatively cheap cost which were displayed and sold in his shop.

Soon Terri’s attention was drawn to another young Belfast band Victim. With a dress sense much akin to the early Jam image, in fact they even had “In The City” in their live set, Victim became Good Vibrations second release when their “Strange Thing By Night” single was issued on the 1st June 1978. Terri “I can remember Victim playing one night at the Windsor Hotel and someone stole Colin ‘Ziggy’ Campbell’s microphone as he was singing”.

Next of the Good Vibrations roster were The Outcasts, who were regulars in his shop and Terri went on to manage the band. They also released the first album on his label too. The single “Justa Nother Teenage Rebel” was released in the summer of 1978. Things were moving fast. Terri recalls, “The thing I loved about The Outcasts was that they were called The Outcasts long before they had a band, also the fact that they lived in the ex-Lord Mayors house at the top of the Malone Road. Greg was in the shop one day, they already had a single out on It Records and I just asked him when they were gonna record for us, and that was that. I really loved their songs. When Marty went to the toilets, he came out with a song like ‘Johnny’s A Wanker’. I often wondered where he got the inspiration for that one!”

Terri’s next venture was to stage the first of a number of high profile concerts featuring home grown punk talent. The ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest, was held at the McMordie hall at Queens University on 14th June 1978. It featured seven acts such as Rudi, The Undertones, The Outcasts and Ruefrex. Terri opened proceedings that night by reading from a telegram which he’d received from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, wishing Good Vibrations good luck in their brave new venture!

On the morning after the Queens gig, Derry band The Undertones recorded their Teenage Kicks EP for the label at Wizard Studios, a small recording studio located behind the Duke Of York pub and set up by Davy Smyth and his wife Valerie. The building at one time had been an old clothing factory. Recording an EP was deemed to be better value than a standard single. Two thousand copies of the single were initially pressed by EMI in Dublin at a cost of £200 plus VAT. On its release John Peel duly played it and Good Vibrations place in punk folklore was guaranteed. Terri recalls, “I took the record to London, and the first people I played it to was Rough Trade. Geoff and Richard told me it was the worst record they had ever heard, but he would take five hundred copies for distribution as, for some unknown reason, Good Vibrations records seemed to sell. The major record companies were just as bad. After a big argument with CBS, I threw their hundreds of new releases on the floor, and I was ejected from the building and told never to return. So I walked around to the Edgeton House beside the BBC to leave records in for John Peel. As John’s pigeon- hole was full, the security man, who was from back home, put a lot of records in Tony Blackburn’s box. The next Radio One DJ to play Teenage Kicks was Peter Powell, and when John Peel heard it on the radio in his car he broke down and cried”.

Within a month Sire Records had picked up on the EP and the rest as they say, is history! Terri Hooley again “I can remember staying in Feargal Sharkey’s mum’s house. I was put in the guest bedroom. I walked in there and here were all these pictures of the Last Supper and a Sacred Heart picture. I remember thinking, fuck, I wish I’d been a Catholic. But the next morning, when Feargal came up to the room with an Ulster fry, I said to Feargal this is the first time in my life I’m proud to be a Prod, how the fuck could you have a wank in this room.” The single eventually reached number thirty one on the national charts, resulting in an appearance on Top Of The Pops. The song was also played at John Peel’s funeral on Friday 12th November 2004 and the lyrics “Teenage dreams, so hard to beat” are engraved on his headstone.

John Peel, accompanied by David ‘Kid’ Jensen, made a pilgrimage to Good Vibrations, to see where his favourite song of all time had emanated from and was astonished that such a master piece came from such “ a Dinky Toy telephone booth”. Terri recalled years later “We were in the tiny back room of the shop and Getty from The Outcasts was there too. Now, as anyone who knew him then can testify, Getty was a fairly scary looking individual, with spiked bleached hair and a studded leather jacket, but he was the one who offered to make tea. However, it was only after Peel and Kid Jensen had left that Getty realised that he had forgotten to boil the kettle! Both DJ’s were obviously so intimidated by him that they sat in silence, drinking cold tea, rather then say anything”. By late 1978 Good Vibrations records was in full flow, releasing further singles, The Xdreamysts, Protex and a Battle Of The Bands EP featuring The Idiots, the Outcasts, Rudi and Spider.

1979 saw a further succession of fine singles by Ruefrex, The Tearjerkers, who incidentally became the first Good Vibrations to appear on TV with their performance on UTV’s Good Evening Ulster tea time news show. The label’s debut album from the Outcasts was also released this year. By this stage Terri had grown rather fond of the Outcasts and had become their manager. He even pinched Greg’s leather jacket and wore it with pride whilst Greg was recovering in hospital from injuries sustained in a car crash. Further singles by The Moondogs and Rudi were also released. Terri even got in on the act himself, recording and releasing a couple of singles, including a horrendous version of Sonny Bono's ‘Laugh At Me’, which somehow managed to reach No. 1 in the Alternative Charts! Terry explains, “I was fed up with every band in N. Ireland thinking that we were a proper record label or something, which we weren’t. They were torturing me with demo tapes. It was done as a joke. I got the deal to say to people, you don’t need Terri Hooley, you have to believe in yourself and do it for yourself. There was no musical policy with Good Vibrations. If I fancied your girlfriend you were on the label, or if you had bought me a drink in Laverys bar one night before you were in a band, then once you got a band together, you were on the label.”

The biggest problem facing the label however was the lack of a decent pressing plant in Ulster, which forced Good Vibes to have all their early recordings pressed in either Dublin or London. This resulted in a situation where the label often found itself having to wait months or more on a finished single. The label was a ramshackle enterprise with no band ever signing a contract, everything being left to mutual trust. For many young hopefuls it was a stepping stone to bigger and better things, with many being snapped up by the English 'majors'. Others, such as the Outcasts, were happy enough to stay in N. Ireland and keep playing for the rock 'n' roll starved local kids. In keeping with the punk ethos, everything was done on the cheap. Practically all the singles were recorded at Wizard Studios in Belfast,. The picture covers for the singles were run off on a photocopier and duly folded into poster sleeves, usually by the bands themselves. Everything was done on a shoestring with even The Good Vibes Spring Irish Tour 1979 being set up on a £60 budget! In April 1979 Rudi, The Outcasts and The Tearjerkers took the inaugural Good Vibrations Tour to the highways and by-ways of Northern Ireland,playing a total of nine dates, from ten scheduled. The dates were Mon 9th April - Heatherdew Tavern, Glenarm, Larne. Tue 10th N.I. Poly Jordanstown. Wed 11th Clubland’s, Cookstown. Thur 12th Top of The Town Banbridge. Sat 14th Kelly’s, Portrush. Mon 16th Camrick, Armagh. Wed 18th Toll Bar, Ballymena. Thur 19th Barrel & Basket, Omagh. Fri 20th Howth Community Centre, Dublin *Howth gig cancelled after all 3 bands had sound-checked * Sat 21st Trinity College, Dublin. It was a brilliant tour” says Terry. “I remember at the end of one gig in Glenarm, I went for a piss and fell into a river. I was absolutely soaked, so I took all my clothes off and jumped into the front of the car. On the way home we were stopped by the UDR. This UDR woman asked me if I’d any identification on me. I told her, “it’s in the boot of the car, do you want me to get out and show you it.” The following month a number of bands on the Good Vibrations roster travelled to Dublin again for the 24 hours Dark Space festival at the Project Arts Centre.

By August 1980, with funds for the label running perilously low, Terri put together Belfast’s first “PuNk And New Wave festival”. This two night fundraiser, held at the Ulster hall featured all the bands currently on the label as well as International artists such as The Saints (Australia), The Stimulators (USA) and The Shapes (England) amongst others. Terri also introduced the splinter label, Good Vibrations International, designed to release records by bands coming from outside of N. Ireland, who didn't have to be strictly punk. Most of these bands were from the Irish Republic and England and included The Shapes from Leamington, The Bears from Watford and Irish reggae band Zebra who appeared on the labels first 12" single.

Sadly by 1981 financial problems eventually saw both the shop and label being forced to shut down due to their bankrupt state. At one point Terri was owed approximately £5,000 from distributors in England who had failed to cough up for goods already supplied. “Good Vibrations was bankrupted by Solomon and Peres for £2,700 in what the courts said was indecent haste. Solomon and Peres owned many labels including Rip Off records, as well as the best studio in N. Ireland” says Terri. But as Terri was quoted as saying in a Melody Maker interview in November ‘79 - "We'd rather be failures than be owned"- sadly this turned out to be the case.

However, Terri being quite a resourceful chap, had found enough backers within a short time and had the shop up and running again within a year. He later relaunched the label in 1982 and issued singles by Cruella De Ville and The Bankrobbers, although looking back he would concede that he had lost a lot of his initial enthusiasm. In May of the same year Terri staged a concert at the Maysfield Leisure Centre which involved local bands, plus The Shapes and the Membranes from England. However, towards the end of 1982 and despite Terri’s best efforts to keep the label afloat, the creditors filed a bankruptcy petition, and that was the beginning of the end. To mark the closing of the shop and the end of an era in Belfast’s musical history, Terri burnt the shop’s Elvis in his hearth and collected the ashes in little bags and gave them to people, as a momento and remider of Good Vibrations Records.

The shop eventually reopened when local businessmen Willie Richardson and Ken Donaldson approached the Official Receiver with a view to buying the stock and the business. It was then reopened in the original shop with Terri employed to managing the shop, an arrangement that lasted until 1984 until Eamonn McWillians, a close friend of Terri’s bought the business. Eamonn effectively became a silent partner with Terri taking control of the day to day running of the shop. The shop was forced to relocate to opposite side of Great Victoria Street to Number. 121 as there were plans to knock the original building down. Good Vibrations was to remain there for almost ten years. During that time, the shop was quite badly damaged by a car bomb in 1992 All the windows were blown in and a lot of stock was damaged. The label remained pretty much dormant thoughtout these years with only the odd sporadic, self financed release by bands such as The Bankrobbers and 10 Past 7 who effectively used the Good Vibrations name and logo attached to their releases. In May 1991 tiBeriuS minnows did just this with their single “Time Flies”. The band went on to release a further two singles with on the label. Good Vibrations continued to release material by Belfast bands such as PBR Street gang, Four Idle Hands and The Mighty Fall throughout the 1990’s.

After suffering a heart attack in 1993, Terri was to re-evaluate his working life and he decided that he no longer wanted to work for someone else. Eamonn McWilliams had long since sold the business to an accountant called Abraham Titus. Terri elected to close the shutters on Good Vibrations records on great Victoria Street for the final time.

Eamonn McWilliams was to play an important role in the history of Good Vibrations again when he helped Terri secure a new premises, this time at 54 Howard Street, Belfast, site of an old fabric shop. Trading under the banner of Vintage Records. However, the name was to eventually revert back to the more familiar Good Vibrations. Sadly this shop too went under in October 2002, A culmination of staff pilfering from the tills and an increase in shop rates, a by-product of Northern Ireland’s new found peace. Terri was declared bankrupt for a second time. However, Terri’s close friends came to the rescue again, this time in the guise of Andrew Thompson and a month later Terri was trading as Cathedral Records in North Street Arcade.

November 2002 also saw the release of a film by Roy Wallace entitled Big Time. It’s a 27minute film on the story of Terri Hooley. On 13th August 2003 a tree was planted on Great Victoria Street, convenient to the original Good Vibrations shop. Then on Saturday 17th April 2004 a fire, started by blast incendiary devices, engulfed the North Street Arcade from where Cathedral records and many other small businesses were trading from. Terri lost everything. He had just recently split from his partner of twenty years and was in the process of finding somewhere new to reside, so all his worldly processions had been stored at the shop. This included his valuable record collection, all his history of Good Vibrations records, the photographs, the ticket stubs and magazine articles. Articles of great financial and sentimental value were all destroyed in the fire. Again Terri’s friends rallied round and a fundraising gig was arranged at the Empire Music hall in Belfast on 30th September 2005. Bands such as The Undertones and Ruefrex played and the resulting money raised enabled Terri to sub-let premises in the Haymarket Arcade, off Royal Avenue. This time Terri christened the shop Phoenix Records and it traded there for three years. On 25th April 2008 a gig was arranged at the Mandela hall, Belfast to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Good Vibrations Records. The Undertones, Shame Academy and Panama Kings agreed to play and actor James Nesbitt compared the event. The bands agreed to donate all profits made to assist Terri in moving to much-needed new premises. That July Terri relocated to Winetavern Street and started trading as Good Vibes. In April 2010 the Minnows (formerly tiBeriuS minnoWs) breathed life back into the label when they self financed the release of their comeback album on the Good Vibrations label.

The shop is a Belfast institution which has endured through some extremely hard times; however, it is currently living under the cloud of imminent closure again. A victim to big business, new technology and a biting recession.

It is fitting though that the life and times of Good Vibrations Records are currently being made into a film, a pilot for which has already been completed. Terri helped in no small way to put Northern Ireland music back on the national map in the late 1970’s and his label gave new bands a platform to gain attention, hone their sound and get a sense of the music industry before they embarked across the Irish sea to make their mark in England. His label DID made a difference.