Robbie's graffity lyric puzzles fans

Quoted from: http://www.thisisthesentinel.co.uk

'11:34 - 25 August 2006

He may lead a Hollywood lifestyle, but the title of a track from his new album shows Robbie Williams hasn't lost touch with his Potteries roots. The problem is, not even people from his home town know what the Burslem-born singer's latest effort is referring to.Robbie's eighth album Rudebox - due for release in October - features the track Burslem Normals, described by the star's own website as "an incredible, strung out and personal electronic ballad."
The former pupil at St Margaret Ward High, Tunstall, revealed on his website how he saw the phrase Burslem Normals scrawled on a wall in the town during his youth.
He said: "The song is about an ideal of youth."It is about how in the 80s and the early 90s there were so many avenues to explore and so many gangs to be a part of."
Back then we had so much choice and the Burslem Normals was a piece of graffiti from the town I was born in. I don't know what they were into, but they sound cool."
The identity of the group is now shrouded in mystery, with a variety of authorities in Burslem unable to shed any light on who they were.
One theory is that they were a less well-known Port Vale hooligan firm in the mould of the notorious Smallthorne Clampetts and Vale Lunatic Fringe.
But former Clampetts leader Jim Ford - who is now a pastor at the Penkhull Christian Fellowship - says he doesn't remember any group by that name.
He said: "I knew a number of people that were lads around that era but I don't think they had a name. They were from Burslem though, and some still get down there."Club historian Jeff Kent and statistician Phil Sherwin are similarly unaware of the Burslem Normals.Phil Sherwin said: "There is nothing definite but it sounds like a gang of people who used to go down the Vale."I have heard the phrase but there is nothing concrete."
If it was when Robbie Williams was growing up it would have been in the 80s when things were a bit rougher."
Jeff Kent said: "I have been a Port Vale fan all my life and I have never heard of the Burslem Normals."
Robbie's new album is set to hit the shelves on October 23, and is set to mark a radical musical departure for the singer.
It features several songs - including title track and new single Rudebox - produced by Stoke-on-Trent's own Danny Spencer and Kelvin Andrews, also known as Soul Mekanik.And the 32-year-old said the lyrics to the new single were heavily influenced by the city where he grew up.
He said: "Danny and Kelvin sent me the very basic drum track and it just became a floor shaker with lyrics straight out of Stoke-on-Trent."He added: "I've always been scared to try out different things and this album I think I've lost the fear of where I should be in my head as a populist."Were you one of the Burslem Normals, or do you know who they were?

Your Views

The Burslem Normals were a small underground group who later developed in to The Special Needs Crew, who have strong links with other subversive fan groups across the UK and Europe.
Sam, Burslem'