Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution 2005928004, 1560257695

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Enemy,

Artists as diverse as John Waters, Public

and Sonic Youth used

in

1970s

all

owe

New

York to describe a musical

movement founded on

a rebellious attitude toward

mainstream and a relentless dedication to

the

reviving rock and roll— the From the

word

a debt to a single

its

UK

word was PUNK

origins in the States to the cultural

shockwave

it

sent through

and Europe, the word, the sound, and the style frightened

the unknowing and inspired an insurgent network of DJs, artists, writers,

and bands as

decades of the

one of the

influential

today as

ever. After nearly three

LOUD FAST RULES!, punk remains most momentous cultural movements since the rallying cry

inception of rock and

This

roll.

book gives a voice twenty-five

the

years

those

it

look

remembers ensued

that

years

formative

1979 and takes a

of 1975 to ,

as

chaos

jubilant

during

punk generation

to the later,

where

at

ventured

in

form

the

the era that

followed. With hundreds

unpub-

previously

of

with

interviews

lished

preeminent figures Iggy

the

Don

Legs

Pop,

Underground,

Velvet

Debbie

Letts,

Harry,

Andy

William S. Burroughs,

Warhol, Richard

Hell,

its

triumphant,

supported

with

Strummer,

Joe

and the Sex

the true story

like

McNeil,

is

told

furious

Pistols,

in

all

glory

stunning,

of

and often

previously unpublished photographs.

As Dee Dee Ramone explains

it:

“[Punk] gave

everybody a chance to say something. That’s revolution.”

PUNK.

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2017 with funding from

The Archive

of

Contemporary Music

https://archive.org/details/punkdefinitivereOOcole

Stephen Colegrave & Chris Sullivan

THUNDliR’S MOUTH

PRESS

1

in

An Imprint 245 West

of Avalon Publishing

First

1

Mouth Press Group Incorporated

the United States by Thunder's

Published

New

7th Street,

published

in

NY 1 001

York,

Great Britain

2001 by Cassell & Co

in

in 2005 by Cassell a division of Octopus Publishing Group Limited 2-4 Heron Quays, London El 4 4JP

This paperback edition published

Text copyright

© 2001 Stephen

Design and layout

©

Illustrated

Colegrave & Chris Sullivan

2004

Cassell Illustrated

The moral right of Stephen Colegrave and Chris Sullivan to be identified as the authors of has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 All

rights reserved.

No

part of this publication

(including photocopying or storing or not transiently or incidentally to

it

in

may be reproduced

a material form

other use of this publication) without the prior

written permission of the copyright owner, except

the Copyright, Designs

in

any medium by electronic means and whether

some

in

accordance with the provisions

of

1 988 or under the terms of a licence issued 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE.

and Patents Act

by the Copyright Licensing Agency,

Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should

be addressed

to the publisher.

The picture credits on page 399 constitute an extension Library of

of this copyright information.

Congress Control Number: 2005928004

ISBN. 1-56025-769-5 Commissioning editor: John Mitchinson Project manager: Patricia Burgess Copy editor: Debbie Kennett Additional research: John Shearlaw Consultant: Nils Stevenson Picture researcher: Frances Topp Design: Wherefore Art? (David Costa, Elina Arapoglou, Sian Ranee, Alessia Ramaccia) Index: Tarrant

Ranger Indexing

Pnnted by Toppan Printing Co.. Ltd Colour separations by Fotolito Longo

this

work

To everybody

who was

there,

and especially those that

didn’t

make

it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like

to

thank everyone who has helped us with this book, particularly the

many people we

talked to

and interviewed.

Special thanks go to Nils Stevenson, whose advice and encouragement kept us going; Marco Pirroni, Helen Wellington Lloyd,

Leee Childers, Danny Corre,

who

all

Fields,

Jayne County, Nat Finkelstein, Dennis Morris, Ray Stevenson, Viv Goldman, Roger Bourton and Joe

contributed more than just interviews; Della Lewis, Beth Marissa Sergeant, Natalie Milverton, Siobhan Stanley

and Linden Hughes

keeping everything shipshape; Eddie, Gino and Louise for providing the entertainment; Leah Serehsin for and much more, and Hilary, Lucy, Rupert and Oliver Colegrave for suffering quietly. We are grateful to John Shearlaw for additional reporting, Tamara Roukaerts for research, Trish Burgess and Debbie Kennett for calmly editing and Frances Topp for picture research. Thanks also to David Costa, Elina Arapoglou, Alessia Ramaccia and Sian Ranee at Wherefore Art?, to Michael Dover and David Rowley at Cassells, and particularly to John Mitchinson for having the courage to for

sorting out America

commission us

in the first place.

CONTENTS

AUTHORS’ NOTE INTRODUCTION 1975 (and before) 1976 1 977 1978 1 979 (and onwards)

THE BEST OF PUNK THE WORST OF PUNK THE LEGACY OF PUNK

AFTERWORD INTERVIEWEES PRINCIPAL PEOPLE AND BANDS BIBLIOGRAPHY WEBSITES INDEX PICTURE CREDITS

9 11

16 108

84 288 340 376 377 379 382 385 386 392 393 394 399 1

AUTHORS’ NOTE

The content of this book is largely based on original interviews conducted by the authors A full list of interviewees appears on page 385. The authors have also drawn on previously unpublished research from The Filth and the Fury, with kind permission from Julien Temple and from original interviews with Warhol Factory figures conducted by Nat Finkelstein. A small proportion of material from other sources has been included, mainly to give voice to those now deceased. All sources are acknowledged in situ. .

,

10

INTRODUCTION

punk n. 1. A youth movement of the late 70s characterized by anti-establishment slogans and outrageous clothes and hairstyles. 2.

An

worthless person or thing. articles collectively.

punk rock.

5.

homosexual; adj. Collins English Dictiomry,

2000

7.

or Worthless

inferior, rotten

Obs. cat.

4.

3.

Short for

A young male 6. Obs. A prostitute

-

Rotten or worthless. 11

many things, but none of them were anything to do with a musical movement. All the were uncompromisingly negative. This absence of acknowledgement at the peak of punk is indicative of its place contemporary Britain. It was never a comfortable movement; it was not understood by most people over 21; it refused to conform, or to confine itself to a musical trend. No wonder the dictionary tried to ignore it...

In

1977 the dictionary defined punk as

definitions

in

its musical connotations, the word had its own hard-edged meaning. For many the term was used by the likes of James Cagney to express derision of someone considered inferior. It ivas a name rooted in film noir of the 1940s and could not be parted from its origins. The name, though apt, did not immediately catch on in the UK. The Sex Pistols always claimed that they weren't punk - they were the Sex Pistols.

Before acquiring

is that virtually as soon as it was named and defined, it was in fact over. However, this does not matter book we are defining punk in terms of the spirit and attitude that epitomized its innovative peak.

The irony of punk

because

in this

Punk was always more than a T-shirt or a piece of loud music: it was an irrepressible attitude. It is this attitude that momentarily rescued the word from its time-honoured place of shame and elevated it to describe a youth movement that dared to rock the status quo beyond the imagination of any previous generation. Although, for the sake of simplicity, punk is described as a movement, it was only ever a collective of individual free spirits. In fact, it is these individuals who make punk difficult to define: just when you think you have managed to encapsulate the ethos, these free spirits break away and make you think again. This is the essence of the movement and, if nothing else, we hope to demonstrate that the years 1975-9 were a time of intense personal creativity.

was a quality shared by all the major participants in this story, whether British or American. In the USA it manifested Used principally in music and, arguably, resulted in a richer musical heritage. In Britain the focus was broader, with Individuality

12

to push out the boundaries of fashion, graphics and design, and to create a politics of subversion. In both countries the roots of punk lay in subversion, which carried the inherent acknowledgement that you were somehow living apart.

people attempting

This volatile foundation

have

gave punk

its

impetus and zest

tried to capture those qualities in the

for ridicule, imparting a

rawness and freshness previously unseen.

We

pages of this book.

The sum effect of punk was to create a chasm between the younger and older generations. It was determined that youth should annex and follow its own agenda. The confidence it brought to achieving this gave it a bullet-proof brashness that propelled it to victory against record companies, TV hosts and Texan cowboys. Of course, in the unfolding of this story there is much that now appears misguided or even ridiculous, but the essential robustness and relevance of the key theme - that everyone should question authority and do it for themselves - is just as relevant 25 years later. define,

The importance of being committed to this agenda was most poignantly revealed as the original participants began to drop out of and personal freedom gave way to tribal tyranny. Spitting, pogoing and racism were never part of the agenda, but they became the hallmarks of those die-hard punk bands that refused to believe it was all over, or to evolve, as the Clash had done. To appreciate the true brilliance of punk you have to dismiss such crass behaviour from your mind. the story. The sense of liberation

no exaggeration to claim that 1976 was the peak of punk in Britain, as it was for the American bands who came to visit. In fact, 76 went on to become the main movers and shakers in subsequent decades. Punk as a concept set them apart and made it clear that there was a very viable subculture in the UK that was not prepared to settle for what it was given. The only people the younger generation had to look up to were their peers, so it fell to them to run the clubs, own the record labels and design the clothes. It is obvious really when you think about it, but the youth of 76 had to underline these developments with subversion. This book begins with Andy Warhol's Factory in New York, which, although not punk per se, did entertain all its basic principles. As Ronnie Cutrone, a Factory regular, explains in Victor Bockris’s book Uptight: The Story of the Velvet Underground, ‘Everybody was It

is

the class of

13

feeling really cocky and they didn’t like anybody. The general attitude was ‘Fuck you,' which was very punk, but nobody knew what punk was. The Velvets hated everything. The whole idea was to take a stab at everything.’ This was the basic punk maxim. Warhol’s Factory is relevant because it condoned subversion and personal anarchy. The Warhol superstars Jackie Curtis, Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling were right out on a limb, existing in a self-inflicted vacuum that could thrive only within a rarefied environment such as the Factory. In the early days of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's shop Sex, the clientele were pure Warhol - a strange mixture of gay, lesbian, straight, dominant and exhibitionist characters. Just as the Sex Pistols were later to grasp subversity with both hands, so did the Velvet Underground in their day. The main difference was that the British scene was funnier and even younger.

One of punk's greatest influences was the hippie movement because it gave the early protagonists something to rebel against and someone to hate. If it hadn't been for the insipid peace and love philosophy of the hippies, punk would have had nothing to react against. Contentment is the enemy of creation, and we at times need the banal in order to provoke the revolutionary. Punk was no exception. On both sides of the Atlantic apathy was rife.

some people find it hard to recall what the 70s were like in either the US or the UK. Much of the music sweaty allure. Even so, the Ramones' and the Undertones' punchy two-minute numbers still have the power to shake ex-fans out of middle-aged apathy. But punk always embodied more than music: it dictated how to dress, what drugs to take, where to live and how to survive. To be punk was to be part of an elite that was fighting against the world - a world very different from today's. In post-Vietnam New York and post-three-day-week London there was a feeling that the establishment was irrelevant, old-fashioned and deserved to be shocked. Twenty-five years later,

has

lost its

book has been created from the actual words of people who were there, and they give a vivid impression of what it was end we have interviewed a broad range of participants, including band members and their managers, key figures in Warhol’s Factory and McLaren’s Bromley contingent, owners of the clubs, venues and clothes shops, photographers and journalists, all of whom helped to create what we now call punk. This

To this

14

like.

4s

with all musical eras, there is a nostalgia industry for punk, which continually re-invents the myths, aggrandizes the and over-estimates the legacy. Unfortunately, the original spontaneity, madness, violent creativity and sheer audacity of the period is in danger of being lost. Mindful of this danger, we have talked to people we know and trust (or their recommended contacts) who have no agenda or axe to grind. This has allowed us to get closer to the truth and avoid rehashes of well-rehearsed stories. trivial

We

are keen to tell the story of punk with pictures as well as words. Most of the images have come directly from photographers also given us interviews. Some of them, such as Danny Fields, who managed the Ramones, and Leee Childers, who the Heartbreakers, were major figures in their own right and have given us many previously unpublished shots. We have also included a number of movie stills, as films such as Jubilee, The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle and The Punk Rock Movie are incredibly evocative of the era.

who have managed

Of course, we haven’t been able to interview everyone. Many of those we most wanted to talk to are dead. Others weren’t prepared be candid, so we decided to talk instead to people who knew them. We apologize to anyone whom we have inadvertently omitted.

to

The aim of this book is to do more than just tell a great story. It sets out to convey the feel, the smell, attitude and humour of punk, to allow it to bask in all its brash glory, from its Warhol roots to its eclectic legacy. To show what it was like to live apart -

TO BE PUNK.

Stephen Colegrave

i. rui>l(BA

.

GLUE

SNIFFIN’

became the chosen rag of the blank generation. John Cooper Clarke, punk poet

an age when guvs looked

In

Ramones came

the

London to launch

like

Ramones

John Cooper Clarke

it

in

the

Ramones' song 'Now

up the basic approach

to

Wanna Sniff Some Glue'. thought that anything summed the new music was the lowest form of drug-taking. I

if

I

it

With

its

cheapskate house style

way of getting some ways was concerned

Glue, which meant that at last the fans had a vital role in

those early days.

as the broader press took just that. Fanzines

In

I

interest. After

were the voice

all,

most white

information. that

rock'n'roll

of the street, whilst the

Mark played a

punk would

sell

out

bands had done

music press had

its

own

vested interest.

The Essential Punk accessory

in

flares,

Ihe EssuiUil Punh Acmsrny

I

fanzine, Sniffin'

Punk Accessory

conveyed there was a piss-or-get-off-the-pot urgency about

in early July... went straight home and typed the first words of Glue and Other Rock'n'Roll Habits - a pinched title straight from

gig

my

Mark Perry

Open University lecturers and even your uncle wore

SNIFFIN’ GLUE, the first of the fanzines...

and semi-literate enthusiasm,

After a

the foreword to The Essential

a breath of fresh carbona, inspiring Mark Perry from south

in like

the WhOle production.

in

Caroline Coon, journalist

I

know nothing about

don't

fanzines.

was too busy

I

getting out of

it.

Never had much time

John Egan

Nils

There was something about punk that

made you have

formed a band or a fanzine. No way could

I

sing,

so

it

You

to get involved.

had

to

be a fanzine.

knew what a fanzine was until the Pistols played in Plymouth on and someone was selling copies of Sniffin' Glue. thought was

really

tour

I

it

it

I

was

fantastic.

I

think

it

was number

remember going home and deciding

Stains,

and

I

started

work on

it

had Gaye Advert on my own fanzine. was

seven,

it

to write

over Christmas

1

I

liked drugs.

either

never

I

Mark Perry was very instrumental

the Anarchy

before Sniffin' Glue

really exciting

there.

If

happened

it

the front.

understood what

called

Alan Jones

It

for fanzines.

Stevenson

it

He came today,

was

all

it

in

getting

punk going. Fanzines

along and galvanized the scene.

would be on the Web.

like

I

in

be creative and share my ideas with others who seemed

Rhodes

to the Clash,

publish any of

my

it

was

‘The

Fir

left

it

Sex

nearly a year before

stories about punk.

misogynist men, especially since that

to the

my

My

my

editorial

Pistols early on,

Revolution',

Johnny Rotter • Near

left

on 28

Mark Perry

July

paper, Melody Maker, would

mentor, Penny Valentine, had

1976.

In

and Berme

board was a group

took a fight at the Nashville to get them interested and carry

Rock

deal.

it

He

out actually

about immediately.

For me, punk meant an escape from a very boring job

me

actually put

Mark a great

976.

Nigel Wingrove

Although Alan Jones had introduced

didn't really exist

He

the meantime,

of

left.

my

It

weak,

was

I

It

thought

I

could change the world.

We were

in

action;

banking. to

It

we had

the time;

wasn’t just punk rock, Sniffin' Glue, the Sex Pistols, the Clash... it

Mark Perry

in

gave

me

a chance to

be on the same wavelength.

was

we had

.

the vision.

art in action.

The Essential Punk Accessory

ironical

first article,

Mark Perry launched

Sniffin'

It

was

all

a

bit

Dada

really,

wasn’t

it?

I

don't know.

John Egan

153

. eer giass*^ was eiit.that Vo^en aat many Loes happen rjist stupid punk on 3 violence t the truth*.

r

'

,

^^^

.

happening* Ting is Bpstairs tly played of that a member nrrently rehears^

;

)i

3CO-hid'causehewas

n

•

cLre « ' "SNIFFIN GLUE ed Mark P's the L..+ er one of a glas* a Steve Mick s nag you « 1 don't And if yon pi* in various things Also sticking for a banar a ® Hide Brown(who wise for roll Steve WalshCvho's covert Jonathan Eichman ** -r»GL£SH photo! °c n (C P. toSpecial sneers deaxly ( yoU .•

^^ool

^

SOUNDS, NME, MELODY MAKER and the new ROCKSTAR should stick to writing about the established

artists.

Leave our music

to us. Sniffin' Blue, issue

I

hired a Xerox machine.

guy on the phone lorries

have ever seen

I

I

know what possessed me

don't

said, yes, they could in

my

arrived

life

photocopier must have weighed the sofa, but

it

It

runs:

some 20 copies a

some

day;

pages. Xerox used to give

A few days

it.

in

half a ton.

took up half the room.

the

little

We

was

set

street at it

mother’s house. The

the lounge, hidden behind

in

so

of paper,

I

I

ended up

come

printing

would have small

was a

very creative time, even though a

do something

ideas.

They

just did

lot

of the fanzines

for themselves.

churning out these magazines -

and

make

maybe

only

1

They were

0 pages

were crap. People were

actually sitting at

of their

home

Sniffin' Blue, issue

My

thoughts and pictures

or a record shop.

that.

to Plymouth,

have sex with

my

girlfriend,

and

He

actually

from the Pistols to the Damned. Captain

tried to

even

have sex with my mother, and

tried to

tried to

have sex with me.

I

I

had

was

Yeah, fanzines... bloody expensive!

I

it

seemed

silly

I

things.

if

would go out

to the concerts,

photograph the bands, process

Vanilla,

who

played

in

wanted

to interview him.

I

My

first

all

the shots at

interview

was

art

with

demand

to

its

for

great,

this bloke called Sting

said, ‘No, thanks,'

before,

and

notice of the

that

bill

went

it

I

I'd

loved

little

it.

go!

let's

wrote

been knocking

post.

this grovelling letter to

somebody

very important at

was called the Police. came up to me and asked

because no one had ever heard

of

escaped

to

could they do

court-martial, or art

this to

pounds. Eventually

me.

In

and

the

Of course,

stick

like

pounds. Then I’d

loved

and doing

them on

we

didn’t

like.

my mother found them and

Rank Xerox saying

for giving

student. Eventually they took the

London and my mother got the other

of

I

was

the end, the guy who'd leased

whatever they do

a gig

until

or something

sorts of stuff off

all

fanzines.

at

counter on the top of the

thousands

cut out people's heads

of

how

been

was

That

was a penny

into

thousands

only a

me

the

an expensive piece of

machine back with no charge.

half of her

lounge back.

Nigel Wingrove

Fanzines were amateurish nonsense. Beginning of the end. Lowest

him or his band.

denominator. Sniffin' Glue says

Nigel Wingrove

Chris Sullivan

StoM MjcSoian

scene.

you - the

to

so

there wouldn't have

payment through the

maximum. like

it

bills for

kept getting these

equipment to a poor I

Plymouth. Her backing band

remember going backstage and I

it

like this

up an enormous

We'd do pranks

machine was given a

school and then go backstage and do an interview.

NY

we wanna

you would be flogging your fanzine

you printed a page,

that every time

much used

later

much

hadn’t really taken

I

actually clocked

Xerox so

Seconds

never seen anything

I’d

happened.

poor student and

Chris Sullivan

I

is

pornographic pictures and festoon parts of Plymouth with certain people I

Cherry

up

it's all

London punk

People forgot that without

great.

instantly.

received this statement and

my

loads of

Nigel Wingrove

I

the scene, but

bit for

feel young).

now, but the

it

1

Xerox machine

inevitable

who came

who

past

is

we've got something goin' on here,

if

do a

try to

British rock

instead of drooling over the

Sandor. newsagent

copier. But

interviewed everyone

We're gonna

You could create them

it.

Sensible actually stayed at our house.

scene down, but

kids (and, of course, the guys

Most

here.

own brands up

Fanzines... well, yeah.

Mark Powell

I

better.

it

happen

real

Let's build our

I'm not putting that

Tom

actually trying to

make somethin'

isn't.

with their artwork on single

just kept going.

Nigel Wingrove

It

to

punk scene

of the biggest

fanzines. People

100. They would

me reams

up

one

my

We've got

Rank Xerox. This

to ring

later

just insane. Basically

more than 24

the fanzines for the area, probably

all

do

5

it

common

all.

155

Malcolm aimed to create the whole Factory vibe

with Sex and the crowd

around

and

it,

some

to

extent succeeded

Because

Chris Stein. Blondie

my size and the way was brought up, was the most liberating time of my life.

of

Punk energized a

I

the punk era

their brains.

Helen Wellington Lloyd

those

the early scene

in

who were bored

people

lot of

There was such felt

out of

electricity in the air that

completely invincible.

Roger Bourton

In

those days you could shock people by having short

and

hair

We

tight trousers.

were

just

1

6 and saying no to everything around us.

People forget how young

Clive Longer, songwriter and producer

we

were.

Steve Severin

No one made clothes that would look good on me. when punk came along, finally found an artistic way to dress. The clothes wore made me feel as Then,

I

I

I

belonged

I

you

had the courage

me

There were only a few of

to a club.

privileged;

felt

to

wear ridiculous things

stand out. For the

background.

into the

my

with

us.

first

time

didn't try to

I

wanted people

I

chains, safety-pins, foxtail

bods, thieves, ragamuffins, builders, an undertaker, young kids.

me

was

Louise's

and black eyes.

little

zoo.

know because was

I

there.

I

our Factory

in

a way.

I

Maybe Malcolm

guess.

did kind of take the Factory as a bluepnnt. Certainly he

remember

I

was Malcolm's

It

Frank Kelly

was always

some gay friends. A guy on the tube was looking at me in amazement because the foxtail was sticking out between my legs like a well. ..you know, someone’s pussy. was stupid, but was great.

The

Helen Wellington Lloyd

of

in

posh

arty types,

merge

to look at

For once, being a dwarf didn't matter.

going to a club

a dommatrix,

You

made

that

-

oddballs hanging round Sex

right load of

transvestites, rubber fiends,

part of something. Suddenly,

felt

There was a

if

Earls Court with

me

ringing

Bromley contingent

or

Simon Barker

[leader of the

punks] to galvanize us into

of

some

such as going on the Grundy show.

sort of action, Steve Severn

It

it

rest of the

scene was

what happens when you

McLaren and Westwood created an arena alike -

Like Warhol,

straighter than the

them were bending the gender, as listen to

a

it

lot

Sex

were.

Some

lot

guess

I

that's

David Bowie.

of

Chris Sullivan

where the burning youth - strong and vulnerable could run wild,

and

morality.

power be

It

freed from the imposition of adult

company

.

was both meant

liberating

that the

easily defined, yet,

and the source

of their

its

childlike aspect,

particularly vulnerable to perversion,

once

it

think there’s a strong parallel to

of

emerging movement could not

through

I

Factory and Sex. and everybody

Like Warhol, their very lack of conventional

lies.

it.

create a scene.

was

creativity in

design and

myth I

first

went

see the Sex

to

Pistols,

it

was

the

people that had the biggest effect on me. Characters Jordan,

were

Sue Catwoman,

unlike

anyone

scene. The music

I'd

Phillip

It

was

all

believe he thought. ‘There

London. Let's get

it

wasn’t

of the Pistols

I

all

is

don't think he had a grand

altruistic.

It

was

all

to perpetuate the

and whatever he was doing personally.

Steve Severin

There was a

which

about the

was secondary. The scene gave you

a

I

right

good scene going on before the

thought was

Killjoys with

better.

We

a saxophone player and two

girl

backing

wore a rubber coat and winkle-pickers, and

Clive Longer

on the stage doing torch songs. After a while

I

ourselves on the

London

in 1

976 was

like living in

couldn’t buy Perrier water, and spaghetti

came

in

a can.

from lower

left:

left:

Alan Jones, Lynda Ashby and Jordan • Above, right: Sue

Siouxsie. Debbie Juvenile. Phillip Salon.

bill

a major

interruption.

It

we

I

sat

found

as the punk bands, but the

just got

in

else.

I

think

punk was

the way.

Kevin Rowland. Dexy's Midnight Runners

Robert Elms, broadcaster and journalist

Lett clockwise from top

same

audiences wanted punk and nothing

Poland. You

Pistols,

had a band called the

singers.

in

this kind of

these people together

place to go and a sense of belonging.

Living

aware

everybody to

like

Salon and Alan Jones

met before.

I

certainly very

trying to manipulate

and see what happens.'

defined.

Jon Savage, England's Dreaming

When

Malcolm was

be made between the

was

Simon Barker

(with

Catwoman

• Opposite, top.

arms crossed). Steve Severin

left to right:

Sid Vicious. Nils Stevenson and Lynda

Ashby • Opposite, bottom,

(with legs in the air). Steve Berlin (with hand on head). Sue

Catwoman. Sharon

(in

dndnise

cap) and Lynda Ashby

Wm

Malcolm and Vivienne started off the whole punk thing in this country

I think

because they couldn't dance. Helen Robinson, designer

There was no information to be had. There were no

You

really

became

had

to

scrabble around and

it

was

all

a focal point. You'd walk up the Kings

style

word

of

magazines and no

Internet.

mouth, so Malcolm's shop

Road on a Saturday

afternoon,

just

around one or two places.

was

and

started meeting

Steve Severin

premiere

If

I

about 800 to

Now

funky.

it

was

the time for the rock'n'rollers

1

,000 people involved

I

was wearing of

we were

curtain.

He came down,

everyone. first

met Siouxsie, she never went anywhere except gay

clubs, like

Bromley contingent dragged us down

to Louise's.

Where

else could

J

Arthur’s

of the

I'll

turn

‘Yes,

we go?

it

I

started at Louise's

It

really starting to

Chaguarama's

grow. Then

we

There were probably only

[in Ilford].

seemed

it

like

thousands.

out.’

I

that

was

I

bit

in

in

like,

longer.'

front of

good enough?' I

sat through the

the entire place hated me. Even

them

the Theatre in

free country, blah blah blah.

show up any

get

is

argument

doesn't show. Will that be

I'd

delayed the

the war. This

this five-minute I

with five friends

me and

no way you are going to be

fought

I

can wear what

I

because they were always saying

furious

when

we had

can’t hold the

everyone

Drury Lane.

in

said, ‘There is

that shirt

stood up and

because we

so,

swastika armband and everything to the

me and

pointed at

round so the actual swastika

performance knowing

Steve Severin

was

for years.

the early days.

The theatre manager saw

front.

said, ‘I'm not taking this.

suppose

I

Get

its

Theatre Royal

performance wearing

Royal, Drury Lane.

this

at the

rows from the

four

watching

I

in

the whole scene, but

in

the Anarchy shirt with

A Chorus Line

Mark Powell

and Chaguarama's, which became the Roxy. Lynda Ashby or another one

the boys from the Lacy Lady

all

to have their day.

When

had been brewing

it

the Pistols' gigs

all

Steve Severin

and

The scene before had been predominantly

like

the next place, and by that point the scene

bump into people that you'd seen at a club or an early Pistols’ gig and you'd have some common ground. you saw someone who dressed remotely like yourself, you remembered them. think Sid talked to me at about the tenth Pistols’ gig I'd been to. We checked each other out and eventually he said something, and we grunted at each other. As usual, people who are into the same things slowly pen together. you'd

was

It

and Crackers, and then obviously

my

friends

were

into trouble.

Alan Jones

that

was

a departure from the '50s look and a

extreme, with the drainpipes, dyed

hair,

mohairs, multiple earrings and winkle-pickers.

In early

1976 a

emerged

style

At the end of the Kings the fence)

Reed and

were not only darker

ditched

in

the Sex

lot

(who were mainly from the more

were not content with a merely

out of the Lou that

Road

Velvet

leather trousers,

the term did not yet exist

and was

of style

and began

to

leaf

universally hated

once

it

'punk',

even though

I

and

all

because we’d been

Below,

I

knew

then the rot would set

in

the Kings

Road stopped

in.

Frank Kelly

the swastika as a political statement.

the gay T-shirts.

wore one, but

I

In

retrospect,

it

knew many who

the order of the day,

was

really stupid,

did,

and

half of

and wrong as

it

was an attempt

It

but

them

we were didn't

even

may now seem,

to shock, just like

so young.

all

I

never

realize its significance. it

did just that.

Nils Stevenson

Siouxsie and

itself.

punk was catching on when normal punters at us.

Shock was

did.

Chris Sullivan

by

realized

gawping

No one wore

and the winkle-pickers were replaced

became known as

I

wear things

odd. Soon the drainpipes were

but, at times, really rather

by creepers and Sex boots. Eventually the look

arty side of

appearance. They started taking a

Underground school

bondage and

favour of

retro

more

little

the rest of the Bromley contingent had gained a

right at the heart of the

scene and the whole

As soon as they gave us somewhere

left lo right: Phillip

to go,

lot

of respect

thing just sort of

grew

everybody came and gravitated

I

never agreed with the swastika, perhaps because

of

it.

I

didn't think

it

at

all

left:

Vivienne Westwood. Johhny Rotten and Jordan at the Snax Deluxe Hotel

in

Pahs

II

VtM

/

.

1

158 ,

fully

aware

of the significance

* Opposite, inset

Helen Wellington Uoyd

\\M

nL,

Ha 1L

l|}H

was

Chris Sullivan

Salon: Lynda Ashby and Sharon (in cap); Debbie Juvenile. Billy Idol. Siouxsie and Peter Fenton (ol the Banshees) • Opposite, clockwise from top

m

I

amusing.

\v\*‘

I

we

think

The Sex

Pistols are a

group with a

actually won’t tolerate.

who need

a

are being taken for a ride.

We haven’t had a band like

shaking,

little

it’s

new wave

understand’ the

the music business

relate.

The

first

Nict

line

imps.

I

a

I

first

Sabbath

So

we

riff.

Johnny Rotten

in

The

‘I

am an Antichrist’. And

m

>ml toe Fury

heard ‘Anarchy in the UK’ Captain Sensible, bass player, the

got the single out

was never any

and the Who.

It’s

that their parents

not just the parents

Us middle-aged executives are the ones who

wake

too personally.

all

group

of the

It’s

Sex

Pistols.

I

think that’s

why

a

lot

will ‘not

of

people

a gut-level excitement to which 16- to 18-year-olds

a executive, emi

wrote was

fitted just nicely.

When

&

it

to identify with... a

that since the Stones

itself.

that will follow in the

won’t sign them. They’ve taken

can

younger people

bit of guts for

thought

I

I

it

couldn’t think of a

sounded

like old

damn thing

man

to

rhyme with

Steptoe wailing over a

it.

‘Anarchist’

dodgy Black

Damned

and

hint of trouble

it

was

selling - nothing miraculous, but

from the people

we were

it

was

out there. All the

way

through, there

dealing with - Nick Mobbs, the press people, whoever.

They’d even had us photographed in the same stairwell as the Beatles, for Christ’s sake. That was their idea. They genuinely believed they were looking decision took everyone by surprise.

did anything ever get decided TV,

mean, we heard

I

all

Then somebody

The

first

last,

a shareholders’ meeting? There

single, then this

excitement on

this

each other’s jackets and

- a seething, gleeful mass

furious,

was no clue

time the Pistols performed

stage, ripping at

be a

there

vinyl.

venomous

of

front

pages

should be

it.

The song

is

But

it,

it

was

in the press

anything would go wrong.

number (‘Anarchy T-shirts,

the top level got cold feet,

and the

in the UK’) the

throwing themselves

difficult to

though. The single

is

when

was a connection between EMI and Thames

bodies forming a trampoline of human

They have done

best.

that

at

the rumbles about a shareholders’ meeting, but

and obviously the incident when the band swore on TV

them, but right up to the

to

at

the next Beatles.

at

at

flesh.

- was very embarrassing

John Boogie' rtben. sex

pistols' tour

manager 1977-79

audience surged in

front of the

each other and bouncing It

was obvious

that

if

off

again

ever there was

imagine how the band could capture an epitome of their sound,

for

at the

all that

band’s most

a threat, a malediction. In the last bar Johnny Rotten (19), with the feel of

an urban desperado, yells ‘D-E-S-T-R-O-Y!’

camme

coon,

is October 1976

161

Go on, you’ve got 10 seconds left. Say something outrageous

Opposite:

Stills

tram the notorious Grundy show • Above,

left

and centre. Irani raw: Johnny Rotten. Steve Jones. Glen Matlocfc Paul Cook and

Bill

Grundy: back raw: Simon Barker. Steve Severin. Lynda Ushby and Sioiwsig * Above, right; BOI Grundy

;

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a

*!

I

was so angry and disgusted with

I

took a swing

up and

at the

TV

my boot. It blew

set with

was knocked backwards.

I

this filth that

James Holmes,

lorry driver, describing his reaction to the Bill

Grundy interne*

Queen and Freddie Mercury cancelled their appearance on Today, so the programme came to me looking for someone else. I suggested trying the Sex Pistols, who’d just signed to EMI. never liked the Sex Pistols’ music, but always knew they were going to be monster. I

I

We

eug mu. agent

were rehearsing

at

Harlesden. Malcolm

programme. Queen were meant publicist Eric Hall,

We were

who used

knocking back

to

do

work

to

at

it

came down and

but they blew out, so they

needed

a last-minute replacement.

EMI, got us the programme. We jumped into a car

the free drink in the

all

said we’d got an interview on the Today

Green Room. We

didn’t

know what

it

to

was

go

all

The

to the studio.

Grundy

about.

interviewed us unrehearsed. We didn’t even

Grundy was being

really sarcastic. ‘This

said. ‘Look at the state of

them.

And we’ve

Malcolm called us up and asked us there’s the

Green Room with

there’s the show.

few swear words, nothing going out

I

live,

all

Grundy was

know the programme was live. At the beginning of the interview band has been given £40,000 by EMI and they can’t even play,’ he

to

got

them on

bad, and anyway,

we

was having my

tea.

I

thought to

on Thames TV’s family

it

and

of

t»e

sa pbuu

course the band reacted with a

would be edited. Nobody had any idea

thought, ‘Oh, that’s a bit warm.’

new ‘punk rock’ cult, hurled teatime programme Today, me sm.

leaders of the

Pistols,

cm drummer

say something outrageous.

A pop group shocked millions of viewers last night with the Sex

off. mi

to

except Grundy, and he then asked us

I

pissed us

horrible, really taking the piss out of us

that

saw the Grundy show while

It

LWT - me, Siouxsie, Simon Barker. So we went down and drink. We’re all broke, don’t forget, so we take full advantage. Then

come down

the free

later.’

filthiest

it

was

British television.

The

And we

Paul Durden, former

rrafe

language heard on

am

did. simsm™

soiptwrtter

a string of obscenities at interviewer

Bill

Grundy

2 December 1976

We got into the car afterwards and shot off back to the rehearsal. To be honest, didn’t think anything of We went out that night and got drunk like we usually did. We were going on our first tour the next day with this big American band the Heartbreakers, plus the Clash and the Damned. We thought the Grundy thing it.

I

wasn’t that

We

arrived

went

164

bad -

for

at

a bit of swearing, but so what? Of course,

at

didn’t

know

it

was going

out live,

mm

were picked up in a limo. We were taken to some hotel in Bayswater and then The Great American Disaster or something. I thought that was funny. In the morning,

night and

burgers

we

Jerry Nolan [of the Heartbreakers] bought

and the Sex Pistols were on every goddamned front page. There was uproar. Jerry threw the papers on the bed screaming, ‘Look at this shit, man. I knew it was a bad idea. I fucking knew it. It’s all fucking Leee’s fault.’ all

the newspapers,

waiter luib, luitnist uib Heanureaken

vampire and never slept, came into my room with all these newspapers. Every headline said things like: ‘The Sex Pistols - the Day the Air Turned Blue’. According to Jerry Nolan, it was

Jerry Nolan,

all

my

loot Childers.

fault. -manager,

tire

who was

He

a

said, ‘Look

Stooges and

lire

what you’ve gotten us

into.’

I

just thought, ‘Oh,

my God,

here

we go

again.’

Heartbreakers

when it was on all

the front pages. We

were still in bed at 1 .00 p.m., banging on the door. The Evening Standard was there, though, shouting: ‘Wake up, where are you?’ We ran down Oxford Street to our offices and they were all running after us. People recognized us and were pointing at us in the street. All hell had broken loose. Malcolm

Nothing was different so

we missed

until the

next day,

the early papers

all

did his best to control the situation. After that

wanted

to get

When we

left

coverage,

it

any story

that

the studio,

was

all

was going.

Malcolm was

his big idea.

Paul

we had

security guards and bouncers because the press

cook

shitting himself.

Then

the next day, once he’d seen the press

Gien Matlock

seem to remember I was back at my mum’s by then. Malcolm was on the phone and was fucking hysterical. He just lost it completely, as he often does. He was bonkers. He said, ‘It’s all over. It’s finished.' stemo I

mis

knew

Grundy show was going

create a huge scandal.

would be history in the making, and in many regards it was, because that night was the real beginning from the media’s and from the general public’s point of view - of what became known as punk rock. I

Malcolm McLaren

in

the

Bill

Pluse

Ml

Kill

to

I

genuinely believed

it

was frankly appalled [by the Grundy incident] because if you took any four or five lads off the street. ..made them feel important, filled them full of beer, put them on television and said, ‘Say I

something outrageous,’ they’d say something outrageous. individual of 38 -

hands

in horror

John Peel. Radio One OJ.

in

The Sex

Pistols:

if

and

they did the same to me,

rather suspect that - as a middle-class

do the same. So

say, ‘This is outrageous,’ is just

for those

bare-faced hypocrisy...

I

people then

was

really

to

wring

outraged by

their that.

The Inside Story

was

media

After Grundy,

it

was kinda the

start of the

too soon.

I’d

I

a

circus.

was great in one sense, that we were a household name, but it the band because it just pushed us way too fast. It was too much

It

downfall of

Sint Jones

165

mirror

outrage

BRITAIN'S BIGGEST DAILY SALE Thursday

6p

December

Judge

1976

2.

rock

in

No. 22,658

THE

in

‘murder’

pardon

shocker ARNOT McWHINNIE U D G F made an

By

A

T

astonishing attack yesterday on the way a man convicted nf murder was given a royal pardon

H

told a jury: " You well have come to

•

nun

the clear conclusion that Mjvos right l a con vlcted

-

The man

at the cent! the .storm Is 48-,Nearold Patrick Meehan, who was freed from jail m after seeing nearly v

01

M

*

seven years,

The

judge. Lord Rob-

ertson. said: ’'There Is no legal iiiNlvrtcatlon

whut«»ev6r

for snylna

Meehan

t'"’t

\y

a *

wrongly convicted. He went on to susptest

Meehans

Lh-*r

ior

killing

conviction Mrs.

elderly

THE GROUP

THE BIG TV RUMPUS

IN

Johnny Rotten, leader

of

the Sex Pistols, opens a

Last night their language

made TV

can

of b:c.-.

viewers froth

A POP group shocked viewers last night filthiest Meehan

Rac.he) Ro stood, despite the pardon. The Judge spoke out at the end ol a second trial over the same murder Tills lime. 38-year-old Ian Waddell was ir. the dock Hr was a prosecution witness* when Meehan got .t life sentence in 198‘J

Yesterday, the Jury acquitted Waddell of mauler .and also cleared him «f giving false evid-

ence

a' Meehan's trial. During the Judge's

up.

Meehan

public gallerv n: I-dm ' b g Higl He said outside: " l

might

as

rov.l v»

•

irii

es;

yard. a. i i

It

ell

seems

uo It's

m

..

papcc still con-

am

victed."

In the ordinary

pardon someone \ou pardon them lor some'iung the-, have done- noi for

I

.

1'

just t

—

•

•

I

:

£10.000 from a record compuix. Doesn't that to

be slightly

opposed

materialistic wa\

The more

Gltl NT)

:

IMSTOL U!I\|)V :

:

rsTOi. We.

l

In-

merrie

Really. Tell !•'

me more ing

then spent it

:

'

on are serious ?

.

It

I 111

with

the

heard

on

'in a

NDY

Us

That's

'

what

Was

really ?

it

(

Mm mm.

Beethoven.

Mozart,

PISTOL:

They're

people.

K NDY \re thev PIS Ol Yes the I

girls

apologise

Y

pi

Y on old dirty man. on dirty old man. Go on, you've got a long lime yet You've got another live seconds. Say something out-

MD

PISTOI

do.

You

dirty

sod

You

GKt \D\

Go

PISTOI

You

Nl)\ PISl'OI

GKl NDY

Wh

night I

.

hope

again

.

'

-i

—

Inl a f ing rotter. Well, that's i( for toI'll be seeing vou soon. I'm not seeing YOl \N :

Goodnight

odav

’

in

tonight's

ogrnmme.

Shocker A Thames spokesman '

said'

Because the programme was

we

could not foresee the language which would be live,

on. Again dirtv f rr

l

Grundy was immediately cameled bv his bass and will

PISTOI

I

The r

I

*'

'

protests. Nearly 300 angry viewers telephoned the Mirror. One man was .so furious that he kicked In the screen of his £.180 colour TV.

I

OKI wonderful

i

used. We viewers."

ajx>!ogb>e

The show, screened

to at

Uproar as viewers

i

was flooded with

behind ? Are you married or |us| enjoying yourself? Gilt I've always wanted to meet you. GRI NDS Did %ou really ? We ll meet afterwards shall me ? (•Ill

•

cull,

The Thames switchboard

Good

What about you

heavens.

I'Utols,

:>e\

programme

.

NDY

(.Itl

lie

punk rock

?

whlsperi their lough s .

I

leader of I lie new kit dec a siring of four letter iilistrnilies at intciviewei Bill rundy on Tluunes V s familv lenlime I

turn

••

dirty bastard.

?

Uv on.

Suppose

rageous.

I

\n\ PISTOL GUI Nt)Y

.

lit

Vea, vea

(.i;i

(

to

:

:

PISTOL

»

of

)

)

PISTOI Nothing a rude word “ Next question. (.It I NliV: No. no. What was the rude word ? PISTOI S

about

received

1

IMSTOI

Words

actually tail me the next guest9 on tonight's show." The group sang a number nil the amazing inteniew got under wav. < It NDY I am told von have

\

I

other people on

“

Bach P» d jn

Grundy

Bill

introduced the Sex Pistols to viewers with the comment:

'!

pi'-ce of I

language

British television.

ycslcrday

INTERVIEWER

summing

millions of

all

peak

children's viewing time, turned Into a shocker when Grundv asked about £40.000 that the Sex Pi-tols received

jam phones What a

By STUART GREIG, michael McCarthy and JOHN PEACOCK from their record company. of the gioup

One member said' " F " -

didn't

-

ing

spent

it.

v.e ?

Then when Grundy asked about people who preferred Beethoven. Mozart and Bach, another Sex PL tol remarked "That's just their tough Late group rageous

Grundy "

told

the

Say something ou'-

A punk rocker replied: "You dirty sod. You dtrtv bastard "Go on. Again.' said Grundv.

'You dirty " What ?

**

/-

A' the That became jammrd,

st,

itchbaard

i

the Mirror to tone their comploints. Lorn driver Janies Holmes. 47 was outrages that lu e ght-vear-old >on hea.d the swearing and k.ck d In the scj een of hu l V. "It blew up and l was knocked backwards." he »..>d " But I was so an:r\ and ch>gusted with this tiltn that l ti>v)k .« swing with rr.v boot

Ue

.

"I

can

anyone, but

swear I don

a t

well «;>i

t

.»•

th


r :

I

:

/

- - -

cr."

\

eneouragit g th;s >o:i jf gustmg behaviour."

Ji*-

i

-

Y wear

n 1

and Dee Generate. They are the teenage punks of the Punk Rock bands,

and ragged

torn

nervously hailed In some quarters aa perhaps the most exciting development in rock music for o decade. Punk rock Is the aggressive, fast and loud music of kids with cheap guitars

with

together

held pins.

111boorish. are Coui-mouthed. dirty, lous and arrogant They like

e 7 ered

and more enthusiasm than talent. It grew, they say, out of the boredom and

i

frustration of being on the dole A few months ago. no one had heard of .t. Today, three punk rock records are in the charts and one band, the Sex Pistols, have signed a £40.000 contract with Tomorrow, the three leading punk bands Sex

disliked use tutr.es like Johnny Rotten H.»v v. Sid Vicious. Rat Scabies 1

EMI

—

Clash

Pistols.

Damned— begin

stand

By

greatest

RUSSELL MILLER month

not be very proficient musically, but we don’t think that i* a major consideration. What is important Is that they generate excitement. " Some punk rock bands are so terrible t li a t entire audiences have walked out At High Wycombe last

The

Damned

found themselves withan audience alter Captain Sensible, the inout

aptly

1

named

ist abused crowd.

"

Were

if.

the

bass guitarthe small

dole before

lie

Joined

a

band „ Unemploym e n t and a deep sense ot disenchantment created the climate for punk rock. was

It

a

teellng

of

ling

being deserted by their heroes— the pop super stars with private jets and country mansions

seem to be enjoyiUQ it." he -iatd. I can’t under-

their

"f gave them a verbalbecause then didn't

—

which

led to kids

own

Punks claim they are n social

Captain Sensible, like mast punks, was on the

making

music.

movement

•

Kida

want something that c m change their whole w iy of life." said Malcolm McClaren. "It Is

the

biggest

happen In year* and no one can stop it tiling to

now " People don’t like It because they I eel threatened by it— if is Uka having a bucket ot cold water thrown tn thetr

faces ”

The

and

a nation-

wide tour. verv likely there violence at some the gigs’’ says tour organiser Malcolm McClaren. " because it Is violent music. " We don't necessarily think violence is a bad thing because you have to destroy to create." McClaren. 28. Is the **

It is

will be

of

owner

of

boutique

called

a

—

dresses

Sex

m punk Upped T-shirLs. made from plas-

rubbish bags, motheaten sweaters and tic

Cambridge rapist” masks

"

square-shaped soups satisfy like a good soup should.

Chelsea

which specialises gear

Chef

And well give you 6p off to prove it to your family!

leather

Anarchy The

essence of punk

Delicious

but feel good. ts

anarch* and outrage So the bands and their toliowers dress and benave in a manner calculated to shock or disgust— like wearing safety otns through their ears, noses or even their cheeks. " We even try to outrage each other.” aavs Rat Scabies. 19-year-old The ot

Chef Box Soups not only taste at 6p off ony two varieties,

And

even better value than they are normally. Cut out this coupon now, and tonight you can sample one of the many ways Chef have of satisfying your family's appetites. they're

drummer Damned. “ At a gig

In France we were drunk out or our heuds all the time, urinating on the floor and out of the hotel

window s.

It

was

credible." Incredible, yes.

in-

but no

more so than the sudden music. rise of punk Dozens of bands turned up to play at the first

Punk Rock Festival held London in September

in

77nr event ended with fights, chaos and a losing an epe when he caught a fit/ mg otas.>

list

irl

In

the lace.

Banned Since then, punk rock •nips rtnve been banned

om

most London clui»

-but the music Industrv us decided the punk •and wagon is one it can tot afford to miss As a record compam ••

DTTEN: Johnny

‘he Sex Pistols' Icodc'

m ha am mu LATES1

[••! -

ana punk rock

played their ixional I

gig

London Later.

p.

[f It

first

in

Iasi the

Jo

1

'

inroumnus when he 1about hia rom in men to punk. " home bandi might 1

1

I

accepted." he piped “ but will never be acceptable." .

WE

rn tbc bind pi » I can what ihev are Irving •

*e

to do." she 'aid

l.ilklnx

gel f

(

Mirrcy. 1'ntorlun.ttrl.t I voire hit not yet broke vo hr sound* slight

I

think

It

I*

greal

Tou should see him walking around — he looks like an old ragbag. really.

It\ so funnv “ L’ n f o r tunately. we bit of having a are trouble with his 'rliool

EXPIRY DATE

11th

Dec.1976

Wm

;

•'

'^-v

That was

One

it.

four-letter

word done everything..

You have

to

understand the times as weil. For

heaviness of it

all.

it

colourful,

mad

things,

me

I

to

used

m

come

to

it.

Then,

all

see was on the bus.

country.

sienMaiM

Sue Cataonan

•

Page I/I

press,

it

It

was one

We

Anarchy

in the

all

the violence and the paranoia, the

lemons

this

in the club

who seized on it

to

call

from Glitterbest [the

got on the bus in Chiswick,

of the

UK

in the 1960s.

lour poster

Lionel Morion.

Mmide,

bit

about

must admit. People can always gloss over the

of those

was because

changed. There was

I

Pistols’

Bill

management

where we

days when you sort of say

small thing called

were going,

pub

lived at the

hello. Instead

Grundy show. While we’d gone

Out

rock. There wasn’t

‘You’re a fucking punk.’

headline a big article that autumn.

The Sex Pistols, leaders of a whole new cult called ‘punk

and rockers were Oterlea!

totally

of a sudden, these

was invented by the music

the time,

in for a press conference.

such a dirty look. Then I realized

for

at

The next day we got a phone

conk

hammered, everything had

name

was

.

company] asking us time. This bird

the worst bit

Looking back on it. .you can look through rose-tinted glasses - 1 think people do a

wasn’t a very enjoyable experience

punk. But

gave

me

she

and got even a

The word punk

Now it was all over the

rock', [are] set to

be as big as mods

December 1176

169

mu vn|

Published by (Jlltterbest Ltd. 4U uryaen Lnamoers, liy uxrora ax. .London

*

Further copies from Glitterbest Printed byi-

f

WS A

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P£e.uj)^LTD

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King Tubby

Dennis Monris

201

f

Wjr

•1

iH -'•• "

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*

.,.,,,

.SL

1

tv»3

4

lr.Ai>

1

—*

Johnny Rotten was instrumental

reggae to the forefront.

in bringing

John did a Radio

1

show

asked to bring along

He had been

with John Peel.

his favourite records. All the

records

he brought, except for one, were reggae, and they

were the

best.

As he was such a

the punks, they thought reggae they had to be listening

really

strong figurehead for

was

really

all

When

Johnny played reggae on the

effect.

The radio stations wouldn’t play

Big Youth on the radio.

radio, it.

had a big

it

You never heard

was an underground

It

thing.

Paul Simonon

Reggae was were

met King Tubby. I

I

went

remember he was

to his

much represented by

very

Men

called Black Heart

Rastas. They

Jamaica, and they were

in

house with Kate Simons

very charming and soft-spoken,

punks were here. There was

Bob

staying at Basing Street Studios, which

who were

road from

graceful, a low-key

he had

He was

brag and flamboyance.

of

and laid-back

individual.

it

on

the pictures, bless him, entering into the

obviously a very thoughtful,

sort of guy, his end.

It

and

Vnr

it

was

makes one

Jamaica eats

remember

cupboard... he pulled open the bottom

this filing

drawer, gets out this crown and puts

He was

I

sort of

its

really

his

head

showman

deep and

for role.

creative

way he met

disgusting the

sadness on how

reflect with

me and we used

We

period.

would say

just

lot at

up the

Bob

just said,

‘See

and the all

those people with a safety-pin

stuck through their ears?

I

like

to

who can

see a man

to get him

I

on stage

of artificial stimulants. Then,

same song - much

Patti

1

- the Wag.

ran

coercion with

via

when he

5 times

took

It

in

finally

did

a row: ‘Dis

all

go

is

me

on her

punks

me new

to the bewilderment of both his

out

to

label in

York,

England to see

music

to

London.

community back

Chris Sullivan

making from

really

play.

pulled

at the

Hammersmith

invited

Tapper Zukie

in

Then she came

me

bluffed

I

do?

into the wings,

it

pulled him onto the stage

my

me

the microphone.

I

and gave him my

picked

I

grabbed Tapper Zukie.

couldn’t play guitar, so he bluffed too.

gave

I

started to pretend to play guitar.

I

put dark glasses on and

it,

grabbed

was on stage was full up. What the

onto the stage. There

Hammersmith Odeon and

at the

to

the wings watching

it

Then

Smith

up and broke

into

heaviest Jamaican accent. Funnily enough, they to drag us off stage

He

guitar.

Patti

ended

because we'd hijacked

New

York.

which then

Patti,

and

He was

in

He hooked up of

he

It

with Patti

was

that's

totally

put out

reggae on the

filtered outside.

in

his

his

money he was

pumped back

U-Roy had would

this voice.

literally

shake

When

just

his record

from his voice.

came It

on, the

was

room

unique.

Dennis Morris

He came

how he brought

respected

Jamaica. Whatever

his music,

Letts

Jamaican musicians who

and started the influence

New

band and the audience.

Bob Marley was never

in

of the

Smith and worked with her on an album.

sorts

I

the concert.

Goldman

on, he

Smith

me and

close.

and we were standing

up having

suffer pain without crying.' Viv

Smith was playing

Patti

the gig

Don

at the club

with him.

Odeon, we'd become

I

system.

injustices of the

When

fuck could

that

[between reggae and punk] - the protesting, the inequities of society

was hanging Lee Perry played

singal, y'know'

was

hang out a

to him, ‘There’s a lot of parallels

Tapper Zukie was one

played the

to

young.

Goldman

two hours

when Bob was

that very pivotal time

Marley and Lee Perry were around and

completely the opposite of Big Youth or Tapper Zukie, full

gunman connection Dennis Morris

regarded as the dregs, the untouchables, much as the I

Although he was an educated guy, he brought that whole

cool and what

to.

Dennis Morris

and

community, so he was very respected and protected.

into his

Sly

Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare were the dub

rhythm kings. Nobody could touch them. Disco dub was

so

brilliant

it

was

excruciating.

They are gods.

Chris Sullivan

connected to the punk scene because he had his own thing going. He didn’t disrespect punk,

but he really had a different position. He represented the black youth of England and, more importantly, the black youth of

Jamaica. In a sense,

if

you look at Rasta philosophy, there were parallels with what was happening

Rastas were Jamaican punks. They were totally against the system

was

not just against the system. He didn't want to burn things

flower from

it.

in

down

the in

same way

destruction

that the

punks were

- he wanted

to

Whether he came across a young black or white person, he always urged them

consciousness. Unfortunately, not enough punks really had that consciousness. That’s what

in England.

killed

It

was as

in England.

if

But Bob

know what was going

to

to have a revolutionary

punk, especially after 1977.

Too many punks only wanted to get pissed out of their heads. The smart ones were the ones that wanted to do something with punk and get something else, and not just see

it

as a fashion thing. Time was running out for them, even then.

Oenms Morns

Owttte cMchnst

from toy

lift.

Riag Tubby

lee Scratch

Perry; Sly and Robbie, lop

Jamaican rhythm section; Tapper Zukie

203

senate

spiral 72GARTSIDESr

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MANCHESTER

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TITLE

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Once again we had to find our own way.

and growing. Journalists had come up from London see

round. about.

gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall

Manchester] marked the end

We'd

sold

gig, the

my promoting

hall after that.

done one

I

[in

trooped

was

career.

now?’ For the

We

couldn’t

The whole thing was growing...

to

and already we were

in the music press. My life had turned was fully engaged with something really cared My mind was just full of Rotten and McLaren and it

first

gig

I

the psycho-dynamics of

the tickets, and this time, unlike the

Buzzcocks had indeed been ready.

book the

204

all

of

only

being reviewed

Howard Devolo. vocalist Hie Buzzcocks

The second

We'd

us.

off again, there first

all.

But once the London a sense of 'What

lot

do we do

gig we'd only written ‘Breakdown’

from the songs that eventually appeared on the ‘Spiral Scratch' EP, so obviously material. 'Anarchy

in

we had

to think

about new

the UK' [the Sex Pistols'

first

single] first

was

single]

out on EMI, and

was

we were supposed single...

to do. But

already you kind of

picture sleeve. Stiff

was a

remember phoning them not getting very

far.

first

1

6-track,

Damned’s

you didn’t just put out a

knew you had

to try

Once

[the

we knew what to

have a

definite reference point

we had

money

for a

to find our

few hours

and then finding the money

pressing, wondering

if

-

I

and get some advice, but

again

way, scraping together the studio with a

‘New Rose'

out on Stiff Records, so

we'd even

sell

1

own

in

a

for

a

,000 copies.

Howanf Devoto

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Look! The situation’s far too serious for enjoyment. Joe Strummer

in Sniffin'

Glue,

28 September 1976

those elements in the Clash, it was great, brilliant. We don’t have groups like that any more. Groups be like they were, but fall short, by a fucking long chalk. They were the real thing, man. There were always two camps in London. The Sex Pistols were about Chelsea and Soho. The Clash, who were a slightly more earnest bunch, were about Notting Hill - a more west London kind of thing. They were more rootsy and much more politically motivated. They actually believed there was a redeeming social side to life, whereas the Sex Pistols were hedonistic and didn’t give a fuck about anything, which The Sex Pistols and their following always had an air of I always thought was the right attitude, stm Clash were the complete opposite. Which quality is the most important decadence about them, whereas the They’re the most important group in the world at the moment. I depends on your point of view. believe in them completely. All I said about them in the past is crap. With this single ‘White Riot’, they’ve proved that they have been working. Nothing but hard work could produce a sound like they’ve When heard the first Clash single ‘White Riot’ I went got. I can’t wait to get the album. months. It sounded angry and I thought it was called ‘Quite Right’, so I was on about it for almost two gesticulating and being angry and singing, ‘Quite right, quite right, quite right an all’, and do you know what? Quite right too. We had a guy, Mickey Foot, who was essentially a sound man. There was a lot of suggestions from Mick and Bernie, but me and Joe didn’t really have a clue. I remember some technician said to Joe that we needed to have separation, and Joe said he didn’t like the sound of separation and he didn’t want it ’cause me and Joe were just into banging the songs out. The Pistols were produced by Chris Thomas, who made them sound really good, but maybe he lost something in the production. Our sound was really quite raw and bare. Pauls™™ The Clash were great to watch, not listen I’d rather play to an audience and them not enjoy it, if we were doing what we thought was to. honest, The Clash were very earnest politically from the first album onwards. White Riot, Police and Thieves, Combat Rock, Sandinista, etc. were all politically motivated. That is maybe why they They had a whole lot were so good live - they really believed in what they said and were committed, commitment. They were really with them when Sniffin Glue interviewed them. It of good, good. I was was funny because Mick Jones and Joe Strummer were mumbling on about politics, and in the middle of it Paul Simonon goes, ‘Does anyone want a ginger biscuit?’ Mark Perry didn’t put that in his article. I thought ‘ginger biscuit’ was the most relevant comment for the article, never mind anarchy, chaos and bloody politics. They were bloody earnest, the Clash. The Clash weren’t irreverent enough for I spent a lot of time with me. I liked them, the music was fine, but I needed irreverence, not politics, Joe and the band through that period, and they were all as sound as a pound those boys in that group. I think they had some unnecessary stick for what they actually achieved. Joe’s the same age as me and from a slightly different background, but I always thought he was a gem. You know, he did care about the social angle and the fans and what was actually happening at the time. Sound as a fucking pound, At the time of the Anarchy tour I couldn’t stand the music, but they were great guys. Later on, when they got a better drummer, they got more professional. They were great guys. I loved Paul, Mick and the rest of the gang, and Joe. Joe was the one who actually spouted the communist propaganda or whatever. On the bus he’d go through this political agenda. I really don’t think he took it seriously, but think he might have been trying

With

all

try to

Jock scon

waist

Stephen coiegrave

I

Dempsey

Helen Wellington Lloyd

joe strummer

in

smilin'

Bim, issue 3 'fc, 28 September 1976

etuis suttivan

’

Steve waish

nms Stevenson

jock scon

I

236

There was a method with Bernie. He did fire them up and inflame situations, convince himself, even though some were unintentional, but in the end he sort of claimed it was all intentional. It doesn’t matter: he was one of these catalysts. The Bernie I met back then was a major buzz... one of the intellectuals that gave the movement depth, just as Malcolm and Vivienne did. The Clash all like a mirror. It reflects the shit. It shows us the truth. To album is me it is the most important album ever released. It’s as if I’m looking at my life in a film. A story of life in London. Playing in and out of the flats. A school that didn’t even know what an O-level was. A job that sat me behind a desk and nicked my brain. All snim‘ Mart that shit is no longer in the dark. The Clash tells the truth. I was surprised that it went to number 12 straight away, considering we sort of banged it out over a couple of weekends, but then again, we’d had like a year and a half of getting those songs together. I remember me and Joe walking up the street thinking, ‘What are we worried about now that we’ve got an income?’ Before that we Michael Jones - well, you know if he hadn’t been there, with were just financially boracic [skint]. all that guitar stuff, it would have sounded radically different. I love his guitar playing, you know. I always like to hear a nice guitar player, whether it’s John McLaughlin or fuckin’ Chet Atkins. I thought Mick Jones was extraordinarily good and very deliberate... he stole all the best licks and gave them a lovely sound. Paul Simon too is always bang on the money; he knows exactly what’ s going on. jonston I made all the Clash videos. I feel honoured to be associated with them. Our lives have become interconnected for so many reasons that it actually goes beyond words. I would say that I worked in the shadow of the Clash and have been inspired by them. I was lucky enough to be close to them. The reggae thing was really before punk and it was the only music that had anything to say. I used to spend a lot of time with Bernie and we both had an interest in reggae. It was talking about things you understood, like politics with a small ‘p’, social situations - it was real. Bernie kept saying, ‘Joe, you should write about things that affect you,’ which is exactly what Jamaican music had going for it. It was rebel music: they wouldn’t play it on the radio stations unless it was like a Culture Club cover of ‘Everything I Own’. You couldn’t hear Big Youth on the radio at all - it was a totally underground thing. It was an influence that eventually came through in the Clash because I grew up in Brixton and Ladbroke Grove. I was living with this music, just as Rotten did in Finsbury Park. They called me Don Letts DJ, and because of that the Clash used to take me out on the road on their tours DJ’ing. I took this dub reggae sound across the length and breadth of England. I thought the Clash were great. There were three bands I really loved: the Sex Pistols, the Clash [and] Subway Sect. I really adored Subway Sect. They were sort of in the Clash/Bernie Rhodes stable. I still think that first Clash tour they did on their own was one I kind of followed around... down to Hastings and up to St Albans. They were a great band. There was that fantastic moment when I went down with all the Ealing lot, Graham Ball and all them guys, down to Hastings. We all had on brothel-creepers and winkle-pickers and tight jeans and leather jackets. The police stopped us because they thought we’d come down to beat up the local punks, I followed the Clash all who had school uniforms and safety-pins. We were like, ‘We are the punks.’ over. To me, coming from Wales with all the unemployment and everything, the Clash gave me something I could identify with. At first I was too young to see any political relevance in punk, but later I saw what they were all talking about when I had to find a job. The other thing was that they always had Don Letts playing the records, and we had always loved black music, especially reggae, which was a very working-class thing. The Clash had the whole package and I think they really changed a lot of people’s outlook regarding politics and race. These were really big issues then, and are today. The difference is that today nobody cares. McCanhy to

waiter Lure

oo» utts

Mark

Paul

Perry,

erne, issue 8,

1977

simonon

Don Lens

Pa»i

simonon

Don Lons

nomri Eims

Mark

237

Captain wore a nurse’s uniform, Dave drove around in a hearse and Rat set his drum was Jrt London 8*8* but fall out with the past of the band when they auditioned Rat Scabies and didn’t pick him,

I

!

even though he danvoModl the drum

He played Ike

great.

Keith

Mi

I

thought he

and formed the Damned:, Hat cleaned toilets for a I

with

Ray

at the Fairfield Halts in

Captain Sensible, Rat arranged tail

Croydon. Ray for

guy with spiky hair, the tat! guy

we met him again Brian James, guitarist, the

later

was

Moon* but was nuttier. So Gave

he was eating

I'd

met

was a band

with

a

show up, When

before.

I

had never met someone

of real individuals, That's probably

last very long.

Brian a rocker and Rat Stiff

was

like

Keith

was

was much slicker and the

Moon. Of course,

be able

the Stooges’ ‘No Fun’ Their

own

stuff

was

gigs bigger.

good

five

on

and

stage.

inewspapers on

we’re rehearsing

stood

Nigel Wingrove

in

with Brian years.

238

Hope and Anchor and fell James. He became my boyfriend ter the

went downstairs

It

at the

wasn’t just Brian; the rest of the

in love

next

10

band were unlike

conscious as the Sex

M

il

ler

the

I

night,,

when we

rat,

killed:

Three weeks

rehearsed with this guy,

came out and Somebody dropped a

Road

comes walking towards us and

limned (Din

like Brian,

wh© wanted

and

to get

vanian. Csjtsid Sensible,

Brim James

like

who were any

boiler girls,

dressed up

different

girt.

record,

But the band was very

ambitions,

ugliest

They were on

before either the Clash or

It

whereas the

rest of the

themselves very seriously. Brian

innovative,

was difficult to keep the group together when Brian was never really a punk, He had far wider

the Pistols,

Rat left.

who

Rat and Captain used to

fact,

TV and touring America

mix

old girls

ripped clothes and

In

-a

Dave* serious guitar

a game based on who could sleep with the

boiler

H,

Above: Tbe

and TRexType people

play

later we're in the Rortobeilo

and, fuck me, Chris Miller

and

they were great fun,

The Damned fans were quite

putting!

and we started calling Chris Rat Scabies because he had scabies and we killed and

live.

fancied Rat and Captain. In

Miller, this rat fust

the middle of gbe studio,

front

as the Clash, or as fashion*

political

Pistols, but

over,

the seats, paranoid he'd catch

Chris

brick on the rat I

ail

drum kit remember Beroie

alt

something. That

who was then

tee,

The Damned weren’t as

especially

In while

on the

me**,

Tony James, bass guitarist generation X

people

comes

rat

fire.

words Rat Scabies.

the

of gothic

siting behind the

f

to hear covers of Iggy

and ‘Raw Rower'

pretty

It all

Erica Echenberg

This guy from Oaterham

great to

didn’t

he's wearing a black Tshirt With a

on

cartoon,

himself Sid Vteious.

Damned

The Damned was one of the very first punk bands It

why it

It

Records took them on. Their marketing

and, fuck me, he’s got scabies' he's itching

heard.

called; Rat,

Dave was guile Ooth* Captain was

changed when

became

Ray to audition didn’t

living

anyone

and: certainly not with a real rat hanging, from his earlobe.

kit

moved

into

So

in 1

band

didn’t take

g70 they split up and

heavy rook

Erica Echenberg

aK

Rat

Safe)

• BRiesile;

He BnzaWB

(Sit®

Biljle. Pete Stolen.

levin] Devour

M

Join Balief)

Peter Shelley of the Buzzcocks

was so

fucking

funny with that

Woolworth’s

we

To be honest,

needed

ioyed them. The Buzzqoeks weren't

stereotypical angry punks. Peter Shelley looked like an

awful retarded prick. him. His lyrics

He

were so

looked mad. but you just loved

funny. All of

produced great three-minute

how Nils

they got their

it

singles.

was I

brilliant.

wish

I

They

understood

together.

sortie

EP

and

[the resultant] interest

means

enough at the still

Buzzcocks.

When

they

managed

EP]

in

1

The day we wrote ‘Boredom', Howard was working a night shift at the tie factory, and during the night he’d

tO put out

976,

written these words,

thought

I

I

looked

was amazing.

before he went to bed,

Marco

Pirroni

reviewed On our

first

I

at

concert, and

check, As soon as the magazine didn't think

much

of the

Buzzcocks.

I

didn't get

and bought three copies

it.

thrilled

Krell

because

it

was

of

it:

I

We

got

at the first

out*

I

rushed out

instant stardom.

I

was

actually about doing things

and

also

was

shrewd

taking

money

concert, because the Buzzcocks in

the

was for him that DIY punk was working somewhere than London. Then the Buzzcocks took it one the next gig a month

at

stage further and became the

first

later.

band

That

to get a

punk

single out completely independently, simply by

really

even got a name

Came

door

borrowing a few hundred quid.

these words and

wrote the music.

Me was

to notice that Pete Shelley

weren't complete, and then actually playing

proof

November 1976

that

Gene

tights......

support band

bigger audiences, and bigger responses. Sniffin' Blue, issue 5.

green

other

their single [the ‘Spiral Scratch'

I

from

a couple of major record companies, the Buzzcocks have got the chance to break into bigger things, which

and those

offered to put the Pistole on.

form of expression- With the release of

‘Spiral Scratch'

Stevenson

liked the

I

ia-bei

their

guitar

by word of mouth. at

‘Spiral Scratch’

important release because

Rough Trade

was

was

a

sold direct simply

proved to people

It

that there

independent record

it

like

Geoff Travis

a future for real

labels.

John Shearlaw

entering the mystique of being written about. There

The Buzzcocks were great when Howard Devoto was the band. They were really

good when he was

in

singing.

was no Peie Shelley

For

turning back then... in

that first burst of

energy started to die out after

‘God Save the Queen'. That

pretty incredible, but things

Paul Simonon

At the time Malcolm McLaren

Even though Howard Devoto always struck a wired guy, that he'd

me

the Pistols' released

England's Oreaming

left

I

must admit

to being

the Buzzcocks.

It

me

as being

shocked when

seemed

to

me

that

I

heard

Devoto

the his

way punk was taking a message was working.

and Pete

[Shelley]

was

hold

in

After

all

really excited

Manchester.

about

He

felt

Howard [Devoto]

had simply walked up

at a gig

and

turned round

when

thousands

people

of

them. There

was

a

I

were moving on. My

felt life

got involved. I'm sure hundreds of felt

that things

change

of

all

had opened up

to

kinds of guards.

Howard Devoto

239

What was exciting about Subway Sect was their total

I

know

don't

Debbie and

anyone else

if

I

liked

fans, but they didn’t give

a

them.

liked

We

them.

I

know my

were probably

shit.

They were

they were doing. For example,

when

Clash, the guitarist broke a string.

band breaks a change the

string,

string

there,

[of

string for them.

anything at

all. Mao

Pirroni

in

a

as quickly as you can to get the gig

laid

down on

He knew

that

all

if

until

and changed the

he hadn’t done

night.

They

they

it,

just didn't care

what anyone thought. Marco

like this

Sniffin' Blue.

called

needs

who wants

Warm to

are interested

in

'em.

be heard. They're an example

to

do something

positive.

Christmas special. December 1976

Vic

Godard

started doing that lounge music just so he

could have a lie-down on stage. Chris Sullivan

stood

just

the stage

the Clash] rushed on

would have stood there

company

they supported the

When someone

you either swap guitars or you

and Vic Godard

Mick Jones

record

A band

to every kid

totally

passive. They had a complete apathy about everything

under way again. But they didn't bother. They

lack of interest in

friend

their only

Pirroni

Subway Sect perform a very subdued set [at the 100 Club] but Malcolm thinks they are a better bet

I

thought

I

wasn't going to

you get up there

When we

play

I

it's

like

going on stage, but

just like you're

one

when

of the audience.

always take the attitude that we're

just

me we do exactly the same when we're practising as when we play live. There's only one difference - when we practise and we do something wrong we stop, but when we play live and we do something wrong we just carry on. practising

Vic

Godari

in

front of

a load of people. So

Sniffin' Blue, issue 5.

it

seems

to

November 1976

than Siouxsie. Nils

They were not huge.

Stevenson

John Baker, record mogul

Subway Sect -

I

really liked

them.

Paul Simonon

This

I

band are

dribble

when

real

punks. Vic

Godard

he's 25. Their music

is

still

wants

to

very simple, usually

Subway Sect

interviewed the

came

to Plymouth.

them

before, so

did

I

for

my

fanzine

when

they

They said no one had ever interviewed

and they were very pleased.

Nigel Wingrove

using just two or three chords, but the strength of the

band's personality as a whole makes up for expertise.

show how much

240

their lack of

They deserve more gigs, more chances they're worth.

Rumour has

it

to

that a small

They were

great.

I

think Vic

Godard must have been on

heroin before anyone else. Alan Jones

Afioire:

Sutnrzy

Sea

(Vic Godard second left)

who was

Billy Idol,

has now Nils

be the

to

Banshees,

guitarist in the

Chelsea and formed Generation

left

X.

Stevenson

Generation X may well be the punk rock group that many people have been waiting [Their]

songs

for ‘boy

[have) lyrics about

meets

We made three single

first

days.

came

out then and went

of the Pops.

It

was

in

wanted

Top of the Pops,

to

be

stars. After

never had

two days Toiry

people look upon Generation X as lot... however,

first

one. The great thing

this

to

be on

that

was

for four

in

those

because proper groups

problem about going on

Aug-Sep 1977

Generation X,

who signed

when

[the]

black sheep because they’re

the detractors write a ‘Youth’,

I'll

listen to

them.

television,

we

so

we did ‘Ready, Steady, Go'. We worked with who produced all the Sweet hits. We wanted Blitz'. He did our first few records. Martin Rush

with Chrysalis four

The

‘Your Generation' released today.

New Wave movement don't

mean

in its

stance of

single

weeks ago, have

is

their

debut 45

destined to be a theme song for the

‘trying to forget

your generation... your generation

a thing to me'.

Geoige Gimarc, Punk Diary 1970-1979

others,

just to

which

we

recorded

do bass and drums now.

in

two days.

How

It

seemed

a long time.

It

takes

times have changed.

Generation X were never taken that seriously mainly because

Billy is

too bloody

good-looking. Chris Sullivan

James

This [‘Your Generation’ single] Billy Idol's

voice constantly surprises

me

with

its flexibility

and range. Thrashing around

and the Ramones do want

stage during songs, his face [goes] into contortions befitting of a generation's crooner...

morning,

Both

Ellon John. Sounrls magazine.

Aim

‘Above

was we

weeks.

a big deal

Sniffin' Blue, issue 12.

like 'Listen',

the legendary producer

him because he produced ‘Ballroom

produced the

the

the Top 40, which

was a dream

We

Weyman,

Some

songs

‘Ready Steady Go', can’t be dismissed with a routine

Love', 'Youth' and, already a classic,

adjective...

Marquee Club, where we played every Thursday

Went on Top

don't usually bother with lyrics but [those] that I've caught, to

the ‘pop group' of the

went on Top of the Pops.

Phil

for.

melodies cute enough

Express. 71 January 1977

singles: ‘Your Generation'

did a stint at the

The

revolution, but with

girl'.

New Musical

Tony Parsons.

change and

guitarists play with [a]

Ml: toy

jaws

and

Billy Idol •

Abort

confidence that must

right

John Towe

reflect [their] pride in the material.

I

you'll

1

is

dreadful garbage.

this sort of thing

to

go

straight

much

back

It

better...

to bed.

It's

doesn't do anything for me, [If

you] hear

it

first

thing

in

the

hideously recorded.

September 1977

241

Generation X were one of my favourite bands.

Tbeir single Jayne County

Generation X

really

came

out of Chelsea, and

were working with Chelsea,

Billy

happy with Gene October as the

and

I

singer.

a gig at the Nashville, and for the encore

planned

Come back on and do a song

to

when we

were never

We

next door. Billy

were doing

Billy

and

that

we’d

I

Billy would sing, but we hadn’t Gene about - pretty horrible when look back. So we came on and we did the encore with Billy singing, and we decided that Billy should be the singer

written called ‘Prove told

from then on.

and to

didn't

In

I

those days

have Spiky

be the manager

guitarist later.

SS,

It’.

it

as

After

it

We

Billy

chose Andrew Czezowski

we had

to find a

a gig booked for three or four weeks

years of not finding one with London

seemed an impossible

weekend:

had the side parting

of the band, but

we had literally

hair.

Billy

went out

task, yet that very

to a party at

and there was a

Fulham Arts Club

little

band playing

me up all excited and said, who could be the guitarist.' played

we kid,

brilliant

and he was

‘I

the youth club

look,

then phoned

think I’ve found this bloke

This bloke had long like 1 7,

'cos

we were

in

Our 20s.

his hair short,

seemed

to work.

hair,

He became

was

I’d

like

a

the guitarist

which he hated, but the gig

So we became Generation

a paperback book that

he

After he auditioned,

went, ‘You’re the bloke,’ even though he

and we cut just

in

went out and took a

found

at Billy’s

X, after

house one day

when we were round there. Oh the front had Generation X in the very typeface that we used, and it was a book about mods and rockers in the ’60s, so seemed to be the right thing. This all happened in the it

it

space

of a

Tony James

few weeks.

l

I

thought the Strangi'erl were iM&frtj. bulfhfh again,.

origins,

They were, .mofe

happen'iog at the

jik#

wOfen’t from puftk

1!

IhM tufftedl wiferdhi 1$' :©y‘ripui $ft fesflf,

a

®am§ time,, fettt they willhl

fhi'f

W#f#

audiences became more aggressive and started throwing things

responded by becoming

at us,

we

belligerent.

Hugh Cornwell, Daily Mail, 20 January 2001

jpuplu

Chris Dulty

they wer© guit©

good $aw tfeffhi live a. few :(,

they weren’t' part Of the

main s©#n.f,

itlfflfi#®,

Tihf*f

Mi -i-few #0h||&

t Iked!,.

The fjfwp consists of a very straighNooMng drummer, who keeps § very sound' beat an organist, who looks life# Ifre'f jest oome home from Woodstock freat

byf

tihrooghout,

©fi pyfVfe*

Walter Lute

hippy^lookiingi,

a bass pfayef

singer/guitarist

who

groups The Stranglers were One of the

same way Nigel

I

did to the

first

fefhdt ©ft tie seen©;.

f

didn't fealty

Wkm to them the

was bemused by

pbenOmeniOn then* and have ft.© deltr# to be burdened with the label now. Unlike some -offt©;? bands that emerged at the time,

cO'ineided with

ikon

circuit.

..-.we

were oMOf than the other puftk bands, mole was very uncool.. But our first reOQ'fdi

a keyboard, whiioh

punk and

JeanJacquei Bumel.tiasj, player and

it

was

©ohvefiiefjt to

vocalist- with l.he Stranglers

Itiffiip

us in with

that.

When

our

a

straight

pub rock band; The drummer

fee! of the

c-ouid easily ;

>,

the whole-

did not have overnight suG-eess..

we had

fubfeed and a

August 1976

punk thing but

have been

had a hippie keyboard player, Jean’lacgues Borne who looked

The Stranglers should have .been #ated the Misfits - we were Ih© outsiders of

melodic, and

seen on the pub

jeans,-,

Together they add up to one of the most original

The Stranglers are always lumped in with the just

I

looks ilk# a fiamon© Cleather,

Pistols...

Wmgrove

punk.

I've

Sniffin' Glue, issue 2.

who

just looks scruffy.

a

to hie they

were

the Eagles,, they

New

York punk

was not as interesting as his name implies,, and a singer who looked' as he was Old enough to know better. thought they were fine.. A lot of bands got lumped, in with the whole punk bit, but bands like the Jam. and the Stranglers were absolutely nothing

but

we

like

in

if

I

do with it, which

is nothing, to

be ashamed

to

of.

Sleplreii Go'legrave

243

What do have

common

in

I

New Wave

with those

apostles, les Pistols? Well, class. Johnny Rotten's

a Catholic too,

isn't

he?

John Cooper Clarke

He was

the most literate rapper ever seen.

like

John Shearlaw

Linda Stirling

She had

former

[a

now an

Buzzcocks,

was

the

punk

first

and

had played

that

was

and the

1975, before the Sex

in

Manchester.

in

was

I

which would have had to be the size

who

hold everybody

of the

ever saw.

I

the bin-liner dress, the black lipstick

safety-pin earring, Pistols

Howard Devoto

girlfriend of

artist]

at the first gig,

Shea Stadium

of

said they were there, but

I

to

definitely

was. The Pistols invented the whole package - the clobber, the attitude, the rules.

me

with It

was

definitely

first off;

serendipitous:

do the same

not

I

was

It

a dress code

just

no cheesecloth

looked

thing with

shirts or flares.

a punk already, so why

like

my own poetry?

John Cooper Clarke

I

remember someone

with a very long memory, and a

Cooper

great cross-cultural appreciation, calling John

Clarke the 1

New Wave's

930s music

answer

hall entertainer],

George Formby

to

[the

and they were nearly right

They share a knowing madness peculiar

to their time.

John Shearlaw

High energy was the buzzword; everything was speeded up. I

took what poetry

I

had and speeded up the

very rough to begin with.

a

of the

lot

bands, noise coming

amp up and

you can't turn the

on your

The reaction

One

jack.

my

wnters were on

I

took what poetry I had, then speeded up the delivery.

People thought

rather than throw bottles. hadn't. I’m not

John Cooper

Clarice

early on, but that

Be Bop Deluxe playing with

I

was

is

NME:

the

in

people would

would have given up

I

was

I

was

they

bottled off the stage

playing with

I

pub

if

the

listen

playing places

Glasgow and was

[pre-punk

was

always going to

been

I'd

after that

find a poet. in

It

same as

But you're a poet;

at you.

a commando, yet there

you wouldn't want to

was a nutter.

I

once

and

side,

the

put your head down. You’re

person parroting

struggle. Things got better

delivery.

was

got

I

rockers].

Once

I

started

punk bands, there was no problem.

John Cooper Clarke

My

Punk's poet laureate, John Cooper Clarke, used to be a

thing?

mortuary attendant, and while his wasted looks and dress

sex magazines, the more disposable aspects of daily

sense are an

integral part of the Clarke experience,

be remembered poetry first

when he

himself

is

of his street-smart

pushing up daisies. Clarke

1

It's all

in

been said

the particular.

velocity,

was

old movies, adverts, tabloidese,

before, but

it

was about

What punk brought

a chance

for

it

to

warm-up man

for the

Buzzcocks and the is

Fall

testimony to the power of

be rebellious while sharing the same concerns and speaking the same language as the

man

in

punk,

I

was working

booked

audience. But what

244

was

into

was a

in

the

John Cooper Clarke would have stood out generation; he's

and

still

writing

entertainment arena,

clubs and trying to find a poetry poetry audience?

Is

on

his

there such a

in

any

and unexpected.

unforgettable. He'd

own, and

still

be dying

rattling off

of

stage

fright,

machine-gun stanzas

like

he was making them up every time he drew breath.

‘Beazley Street' it

got an authentic ring

it

or not.

punk rock

got

revival 2000

is

a sort of evergreen.

onto the education syllabus.

MA

at

Oxford on that work.

I

I

suppose, which

Some

guy even

can look back on

‘I

see

Revival',

realized

poems like Married a Monster from Outer Space' and how they were nght for the time, and how they were

who can't really sing can only mean one fucking thing John Cooper Clarke. ‘Punk Rock

punk shared, whether they

in

John Shearlaw

made

John Shearlaw, music journalist

riff’s

stage at punk

this gaunt, suited figure taking the

was

and performing now,

his observation is brilliant

the rip-off

light

faster.

gigs

John Cooper Clarke defined the very Bntish background

John Cooper Clarke

a singer until

poetry

be disseminated so much

the street.

Paul Dale, journalist and John Cooper Clarke fan

Up

my

Seeing

everyone without

words. Johnny showed a generation that poetry could

getting myself

to

life.

finding the universal

976. The fact that he survived as

being ripped to bloody rags his

whine

will

penetrated the public consciousness with the punk

explosion of the

for the nasal

he

matenal

interpreted. That

me

one touched on racism

onto the Rock Against Racism

in

a way. which

circuit,

I

suppose.

John Cooper Clarke

Mote: John Cooper

Ctarte

,

One minute we were awkward, slightly nerdy adolescents the next we were hometown heroes with a surfeit of 'in-depth' sociological journalistic features on us.

Eater were the youngest group around. They were

the time. Nils

Eater, in

A

their

drummer, was only

Leee Childers took Eater under

still 1

4

at

his wing.

I

like

we

when

it

spit

If

we

It

means our

meeting our pop star heroes, whilst discussing Punk’s

getting the

the evening we’d be driven around London with

relevance, taking

many

We

(and,

ourselves.

in

speed and getting

some

off with girls,

The next morning we’d be back

double

life.

A

on the tube and

Sniffin' 6lue, issue 6.

did get on Top of the Pops,

it

January 1977

wouldn't be degrading.

record's selling well, which means... we're

message

Andy Blade, Sniffin' Blue, issue

over. 6,

January 1977

It

at school,

was a

brilliant

I

used

to laugh myself

They were

kids,

and

silly

didn't

when

I

saw

do anything

Eater for

in

me

London.

musically.

Walter Lure

Diary of the Punk Years

Since the Pistols/Grundy thing exploded Eater were funny

live.

When saw them

Andy Blade was chopping

I

this

huge

at the Roxy,

pig’s

stage with a big hatchet. There was blood It

the world;

in

cases, many, many) years older than

throwing paper aeroplanes at Teacher.

Andy Blade.

me

know what’s happening

they don’t.

the Clash, gate-crashing posh music business parties,

In

old grannies laugh at

on ’em.

Dee Generate, drummer with Eater

Stevenson

Roxy. Aafy Blade, singer mti)

Dee Generate,

at school.

head up on all

was mad. Andy was going completely

over the

nationals, Eater have

band

that’s

had a

going to take over the Sex

Sniffin' Blue, issue 6,

all

over the

lot of... publicity... as 'the

Pistols’ audience'.

January 1977

mental,

Diary oi the Punk Yean

singing these crazy songs of his about being outside of things. Naturally, I

can’t say

Nils

Stevenson

I

Leee fancied him

like fuck.

really liked their records.

Even now,

Eater were the last straw, the one that broke the camel's back, the salt

in

the

No more had

to

be

wound, the

nail in

the bleedin' coffin.

said.

Frank Kelly

245

I

saw

first

Roads Bush

Dury front Kilburn and the High

Ian

at the

Warwick Castle pub

Shepherds

in

was

974. The DJ Charlie Gillett

in 1

singing their praises

and he was

right

few characters

Let

in

Rock magazine,

It

on the button. There were very

like Ian

He had

Dury around.

all

the ‘greaser' moves, he looked hard and he

knew

certainly in

He'd always chuck

his rock'n'roll.

a few classics because that’s what pub

bands

But there was a much harder, mote

did.

edge

confrontational

own

stuff

was

very

new

to us.

until

Kilburn

and the band's

to him,

funny, sarcastic,.

We

and somehow

,

on the pilgrimage

carried

and the High Roads went

separate ways. But

it

was

still

a year

wilderness before Dury got the

their

in

the

make-over

Stiff

he needed and. deserved;., he was a great

names

originator in everything from

to.

attitude

to musical heritage, John Shearlaw

The Kilburns were a complete exception

to the

general run of so-called pub bands. They had a

range of unclassifiable music and strange

and sentimental

rebellious vignettes

lyrics,

fantasies from Ian Duty's teenage years. Both

John Rotten and Madness came to see him

and Were obviously inspired by thing,

which was

and make

Charlie

it

larger than

lie., f

were completely

Kilburns

Ian's

whole

person he was

to take the

thought the

original

and unique.

writer and broadcaster

Gillett.

I

When initial

a

people

of

lot

who

liked the

idea of punk found that

bit daft,

we

all

it

had

energy and all

gone a

went cote fan Dory. Both hi and

Deaf School were the Only bands

were doing anything

'77 that

in

interesting.

Mark McCarthy

Ian

Dury and Kilburn and the High Roads 1

certainty influenced us,

Madness, as well is

the Pistols. Lydon on stage

The thing about him was English, so Dickensian,

a

was pure Dury. he was so

that

real artful

dodger,

what Lydon. would have loved

which

is

been.

He

away from the same old boring into funk

to

have

also took the music a step further

music

halt

rock'n'roll riffs

and beyond.

Suggs, singer with Madness

Dury comes on

later with his carrier

Cockney bonhomie, throws badges

bags and

millions of button

out, in different colours,

each with a

word and an ampersand: sex &/drugs &/rock &/

roll

for

&

&...

all

the musicians

come on

at the

end

an extended encore of ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock

Roll’,

during which the

power breaks down

and the crowd keeps the chorus going

seems

like forever.

Prolessor George

McKay

for

what

a punk rock version

It’s not of the National Anthem,

but the boys* own genuine tribute to tlie Queen. Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm was honest had no control over

good punch-up, good

in

a

in

that

he said he

The company

didn't.

[We

had] a bloody

group

one respect

in

And he

us.

before a signing...

limo,

- ‘No, you’re the biggest

fight too

I

wanted

to

smack and

Johnny Rotten

in

The

Filth

that

we had

the door opened, and

to

was

cunt.' 'No,

the worst cunt.' 'No, you're the cunt.' There

cunt

It

was

a

you’re

only

[A

& M]

not

be releasing any product from the

Pistols]

and has no

signing.

we

thought

but, looking back,

it

it

was glamorous and newsworthy

seems

crazy.

They were

scruffy blokes getting out of a car outside

Palace, then signing up

moved on by because

it

[for

the police.

was

It

Buckingham

A & M] before we

was

the Pistols,

just four

it

nothing

was

really,

all

got

which had talking to

Four weeks ago

I'm shellshocked.

I

flew to Los Angeles

M. and a

week ago we signed

up.

They knew what

danger

Green even

said that he wasn’t offended by the group's behaviour

and I

that

he thought they were fresh and

got a telex from them, saying

Malcolm McLaren

in

The

Filth

it

was

all

exciting.

big ideas

got to

over.

starring

really

ban on our

was

total

bedlam broke

was

out.

Tiberi.

The Sex

Pistols are like

Sex

Pistols' tour

I

come

back.

When

I'm older

What

it.'

Filth

changes

in

rock music which

believe the in

Sex

is

spearheaded by

Pistols will effect

rock music and

we

at

A & M

bleeding,

this

some major

are excited by

in

a car and went to the studio where

mad

day.

‘Well, Paul

It

was

we were

just a totally

The next day we woke up and Malcolm

A & M have

recording agreement. M, March 1977

I

living,

I

shall

in

have to

The

It's

They've kicked us

A initial

shock of getting

was

Counci

getting into.

manager. 1977-9

some contagious disease in

and out

of offices being

money and

don’t

say,

‘I

me what used

went

I

in

and out

to

do

for

of doors,

crazy.

ant the Fury

They've given up through fear and business pressure.

Cook

After the &

The

.

said,

fired you.’

them, their music, and to have entered into a worldwide

Derek Green, managing director. A

of trouble Sid

and people ask

Malcolm McLaren

got

recording ‘God Save the Queen’.

.

are you supposed to think about that?

getting paid for

I

bit

keep walking

we

Sid’s foot

.

a unique business opportunity to be linked with a

force

odd

John Boogie'

a

new

a movie about themselves.

in

had a black eye and Malcolm was running around. .then

terrified.

We were

were being put forward. The

the stagnation, the Greater London

gigs, the

untouchable.

ant the Fury

A & M Records,

until

company,

really big

Warner Brothers.

either Polydor or

all;

given cheques. You know, take the

When we

The idea

there.

Then

but

the picture every

was

whole Hollywood idea had already taken seed with Malcolm - the band

meet Herb Alpert and Gerry Moss, who head up

to

be

to

them

The secretaries were

is

interest

Derek Green's spokesperson, just one week later

newspaper wanted.

This

and the

there,

The Filth ant the Fury

these record companies salivating

Richard Young, paparazzo photographer

group.

248

all

Malcolm got the deal he wanted with a

they were getting. Managing director Derek At the time

keep

to

with them.

A &

ant the Fury

The songs were

was

further association

one

was Malcolm... Then do the

will

Sex

[the

in

fired

by

A&

M, there was

never any feeling that the band wouldn't get another deal.

record

in

company

the teeth.

is

We

mean what we

there to market records

say.

- not

dictate terms. Johnny Rotten

in

The

Filth

ant the Fury

Opposite: The Sex Pistols sign to A

& M

outside Bockingtian) Palace

The Vortex kicked in and it was Nils

fantastic for

me because

I

put the Banshees on.

Stevenson

was expelled from college three times, but I kept going back. We went to London for an evening lecture on sneaked out of it, with a girl from college, and went to the Vortex. As Plymouth punks, we were intimidated by the London scene. We felt like yokels. The London punks were wearing all the gear; we were too poor. Up the pub at six, out three hours later, legless and ready to take on the Vortex. In the door, down the stairs, into the bar, then... anything can happen and it often does... We have fun, much to the disgust of the posers, who occasionally spare a cool, superior glance at the giggling huddle falling over and going ‘Waaayyy!’ at every familiar face. ‘Look at them, [they’re] not as cool as us, their The Banshees had developed a me hair’s getting a bit long, too clean to be real punks.’ sum' following by playing the Roxy so much. This guy Dave Wood, of March Artists at CBS, had also booked them around the country. By the time the Vortex opened I had found my feet and knew how it was working. The Vortex expanded to become London’s first 24-hour punk venue and, as such, filled the gap left by the closure of the Roxy. It featured recorded music during the day, live bands at night and a record shop. The pre-publicity billed it has being ‘What Carnaby Street was to mods...Hanway Street is to The Vortex, which opened with the Buzzcocks, the Fall and punks,’ and in the main that was true. John Cooper Clarke, held a lot more people than the Roxy. It had a legal capacity of 600, but you could cram The opening in many more punters than that. It became our [the Banshees’] staple source of income. night of the Vortex Sham 69 played on the roof followed by a camera crew. That’s just how sad the whole thing had become. The Vortex was set up by Terry Draper and John Miller. They were seriously hard men. But we came away from there with good money because we got a percentage of the gate. It really felt like a second home. I knew how to work the punk system. The Banshees had got used to playing on a stage. They had learnt their craft. They had watched lots of films that Don Letts had shot at the Roxy, and learnt how I took Tina Brown [later to improve their act. I really felt that I was managing a professional band. editor of Vanity Fair] to the Vortex. The Heartbreakers were playing there. It was the punk showcase. We went with Dan Loggins, whose brother, [singer] Kenny Loggins, was a client of mine. Dan was the A & R man at CBS. He said, ‘Shall I sign the Clash?’ I said, ‘Yeah, why not? Sign anything. You’re fucking desperate.’ I was only 18 and stupid. But it was great to have a free drink. The Vortex didn’t last I remember gonorrhoea very long. The record companies vacuumed it up and then said ‘Fuck off’. It was a red-letter day. Danny Baker spreading from one end of the Vortex Club to the other. [journalist and later DJ] strode on to the Vortex stage and announced that Elvis was dead. The audience cheered. Baker panicked and started claiming that he wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for ‘the King’. A barrage of glasses was hurled at him and he dashed from the stage. He was very upset. Everybody at the Vortex that night thought that the death of Elvis was funny. To me it only served to [People] flung glasses and gobbed at illustrate how much this rabble really did not understand. Danny Baker when he tried to explain that you shouldn’t cheer when a geezer snuffs it... [he said] Elvis went through worse shit 20 years ago than you ever did. Whatever he did with his last 15 years, Elvis was the bloke who started it all. Anyway, soon the jeers turned into cheers and a girl with a face about isn Punk was as attractive as a bus accident, who’d flung a glass at Dan, wanted to kiss him. sm'siue, similar to Elvis in 1956. It had an attitude that said, ‘Fuck you, if you don’t like it - this is our music.’ After all, Malcolm’s big thing was rock’n’roll. It wasn’t that different to Jerry Lee Lewis - just a different interpretation of the same old thing. Punk was another facet of rock’n’roll. It wasn’t any different from seeing Elvis Presley 20 years earlier. It was just a difference in degree and dress code. think rock’n’roll started dying the day punk died. A lot of people say punk started dying around the time of Elvis Presley’s death. It was appropriate somehow. I

design.

I

Nigel wingrove

sine,

12.

Auo-sep 1977

Nils

sievenson

Stephen coiegrave

Nils

sievenson

Frank Kelly

Nils

Stevenson

Also Jones

Ted Polhemus

Nils

Stevenson

Chris Sullivan

issue 12. Ang-sen

I

Paul Durden, lurmer roadie,

250

now

scriptwriter

Opposite: Flyer lor the Vortex Club • Inset: The Buzzcocks

at

the Vortex

Vivienne Westwood was drunk and pissing over the side of the boat. That was the end for me.«-j» Malcolm had

all

these weird ideas such as 'God Save the

Queen' and doing the boat on the Thames These ideas were very

special.

for the Jubilee.

They were very dramatic

at

more so than they appear now.

the time. Perhaps

Thames. Then we were surrounded. People started

paranoid. These people [the Sex Pistols] loved being

photographed, they loved to be

much

probably had too got a

bit

in

to drink or

magazines, but they'd

getting beaten up.

too many drugs. They

doing

bolshie, so they kicked this

Frenchman down

moved

Helen Wellington Lloyd

arranged an

Virgin

Queen's

‘alternative' celebration for the

Silver Jubilee with

Thames. My brother and since the boat

I

a boat

trip

down

the police

the River

people were arrested. Paul Cook

and a

lot

of

me Malcolm and

told

Vivienne were thnlled by the experience of being incarcerated,

whereas

for

him and Steve Jones

really

I

end

was

on. That

it

Six police boats... were pulling

and demanding

pull

it

up next

pier.

then asked for requests and launched into a version of Iggy Pop's ‘No Fun'.

the boat

was boarded and

amplification

was

The band

venomous

The band played on while the

finally

power

most away.

to [the]

were

pulled. At the pier the River Police

who

were abandoning

Nils

ship. Alan Jones,

It

really

remember docking.

dragged away

been

a boat for the All hell

broke loose

We

were having a great

time, drinking,

we knew, the Someone had photographer down. He got a bit

smoking, food, everything. The next thing police

were following

kicked the French

»

0

m

left

la ngfet

us.

baoy Harm, drummer

We

had

to stop.

with the Banshees. Vivienne

was one

was

and

who was one of the

me

a very

to the waiting police vans.

the whole thing it.

I

The

great.

actually not far Talk about a

Pistols

were

away anyway. come-down.

playing.

I

with the boat party.

Vivienne side-rail

in

her anarchy

and

literally

was drunk and

My one

shirt.

just It

enduring image

is

She's holding on to the

lor the Jubilee

boat party • Overleaf

was

pissing

pissing over the boat into the

Westwood. Malcolm McLaren and unidentified Inend • Above: Guesis arriving

I

loved going on the boat.

great to see everybody. Vivienne

over the side of the boat.

I

It

had

all

There was a buzz,

and then the night became so desolate. Vivienne started

ended

mean,

of the

to drift

first

something and then the coppers dragged her For

awful.

in

George Gimarc, Punk Diary 1970-1979

couldn’t stand

was

then,

Malcolm got arrested. That was funny.

Paul Cook

It

this

slightly

wasn't his scene any more.

The police were

people were there.

decided

I

Stevenson

smashed, party-goers were pummelled and punched, and

with the police.

that.

withdrew

that.

interesting dressers,

rough and surly manner, cleared the boat. Cameras were

Jubilee, the record

just

The psychos were taking over and the camp element

joined by the Metropolitan Police,

Thames on

I

to the party boat

over to the nearest

Nils Stevenson

the

already had one brush with the

to the story.

wouldn't have been exactly a novel experience.

When we went down

I'd

cared about

Alan Jones

weren't invited, thank God,

was boarded by

thought, 'That's the end. I'm not

I

any more.'

law, not that

the right

the stairs.

Joe Corre

this

of

Malcolm came completely

cab home.

terrified. I

ended up out.

I

to her assistance, but

didn't I

I

wasn't arrested.

he was

A few

know where Malcolm and

off.

terrified,

of

us got a

Vivienne

wasn’t going to the police station to find

was going home.

Helen Wellington Lloyd

Johnny Rotten • Paoe 253: The Sex Pistols (Sid Vicious. Johnny Rotlen. Paul Cook and Sieve Jones)

253

254

You don’t write a song

You do jQhnny Rotten

The

in

One week

Fury

after signing to

A&M

£75.000

After being dismissed by the

chucking lager

at

- and the

Pistols

is brilliant,

it

No

some

sitting in

The Sex

nothing.

Sex

were

Pistols

company, they celebrated

No

in

hanging around.

Feelings' - the

first

A&

froth the

M

‘God Save the Queen'

BBC,

as well as

label

all

Robin Nash, producer

declared: It

is

intro to

end

of the

it

will

be

her' or ‘Let's

fuck

her'.

They were

pretty

much

pointing

out what the truth was. Steve Jones

Top of the Pops,

interesting to

show

Pistols release their

We

released ‘God Save the Queen’

see what

When

debut album

Grundy.

month.

it

was banned,

was even

that

was

think that

I

went downhill

George Gimarc. Punk Diary 1970-1979

in

Jubilee week.

bigger

news than

the pinnacle of our success.

It

all

after that.

Paul Cook

•God Save the Queen' was

March i19f?

abolishing the

The Sex

Pistols' current record,

number one

in

'God Save the Queen’,

the Capital Hit Line, But the

I

is

BA

their

number one

the Broadcasting. Act, has advised us that particularly; at

Julien Temple.

this time, this

record

of our listeners

is likely

to

to play

it

in

our

alienated the entire country,

Save the Queen' was the

it

was never number The Independent Broadcasting Authority has issued a radio stations saying that, in their

was

in

breach of section 4:1

Act. This covers material that ‘offends

decency, or

is likely

to

was knocked on

encourage Or

good

A

If

they'd

hung us

was going the head.

Whatever Johnny Rotten

we were The FM

in

one. There

was no number one

saying and doing

anti the '

hit

a

nerve, a

taste or

really don’t think

Queen] was

[a leading

pulling off

In

record all

those

made up the name of the where we were supposed

Stick-on plastic letters that

- so you'd

get a blank

Meanwhile, Richard Branson [founder of Virgin

Pops.

It

wa$ Branson's way moving

of getting out of his one-hit

on as a record

We filmed

week,

label thing,

raw

nerve,

‘God Save the Queen' with Mike Mansfield and it was terrible, in

Fury

what the band was singing about

that outrageous.

W.H. Smith's

UK] they got people

that

It

I

was banned,

have charge of the

Records] persuaded John [Rotten] to do Top of the it

of the

incite to crime, or

single

didn’t actually

charts at the time.

to be.

‘God

Anthem. But

BBC

retailer in the

at Traitor's

million,

alternative National

the successes of the Jubilee cruise, things didn’t

although the

little

would have been applauded by 56

Gate,

announcement. June 1977

UK

it

all

work out so well afterwards. The

like

record It

Capital Radio

all

was

cause offence to a number

and have asked us not

opinion, the record

Pistols

AmwJheFilthM the Fury

normal programming.

statement to

Sex

against them and within them meant the band to die a slow death unless

f

For

pretty unique. Britain

for the

knighthood, But after that, the forces unleashed

[Independent Broadcasting Authority), which administers

ISA

for

quite unsuitable for an entertainment

Top of the Pops',

at the

kill

Clyde and Capital

refuse even to play a paid advertisement for the

Radio, single.

like

The

to public feeling'.

Piccadilly,

Future For Me/You' ending.

Shillin' Blue, issue 8.

at

BRMB,

happens when the Sex

boring pressing plant doing

have got one copy - a white

be offensive

lead to disorder, or to

doing absolutely nothing.

NBC crew who were

an

Twenty thousand copies of

- are

the

for

Oxford Street by swigging lager and

their offices in

English race.

because you love them and you’re fed up with them hemp mistreated.

it

Filth anti the

sacked. They copped

Single

God Save the Queen’ because you hate the

like

They weren't saying

[the

‘Let’s

was

a

the

Virgin

same way

difficult

time for

that all

Top of the Pops

is terrible.

of us, trying to record the

album, with John getting attacked John 'Boogie' Tiber!

label.

in

the street.

Malcolm wanted me to get tlie Sex Pistols out of Ills way, so we went to Berlin. McLaren was on the verge pressure

was on me

of getting a record deal with Virgin,

to take

them

Sex

[the

Pistols]

on

away and out

We

so the

his terms,

of his hair.

I

making suggestions, with the emphasis on having a good time. Paris was out because

been

they’d

was

there. Berlin

the strongest contender because

he was a big hero of the band, especially John and Sid, so

spoken

I’d

to a rich

German woman

She thought

was

it

the best hotel

Sophie [from the management company] arrived had a brand new luggage: a

British Visitor’s Passport.

dirty pink

canvas bag

off

Anarchy

shirt

and a

in

we

morning with

then.

own

of

London with a huge wad

left

cars while

booked

I

of the cash.

in

The day we

arrived

which was a work

We

relax at last.

all

we had

five return tickets.

a slap-up meal

The I

bill

so he sent

off,

He was

like that either.

very

was huge, so from

gave the band a

daily

some

they tried to buy

it

back.

It

then on,

it

the hotel restaurant.

in

When

his food, but

was sandwiches

for

diplomacy,

it

arrived,

it

them

only from

When

breakfast at the airport

John paid

the

evening

first

someone

Romy Haag,

called

sort of clubs,

and

me

of the club, the

the

name

we went

in Berlin,

that ‘these’

room

I

hired a Beetle

of the

to the

graffiti in

back it

in

time.

I

little

filmed the

Paul

was

Bruce Lee

film

near a

one Sex

band on

that

Bowie apparently went

1

for

German

early,

him a

lift

hit

by a

V2

both needed a

them one

drink.

stiff

When

I

pilot,

the police

too.

and

We

decadent

its

hundreds

travelled

Luftwaffe

driven by an e*

lifestyle.

The

of miles to party for the

were aware

that

weekend,

we were

going to

soon. Back to the pathetic scene of London - the speed, the smell

wad

of cash,

money soon became a problem

the TV, and most of

one

them are

day. I'm going to write a

‘Holidays

was

Berlin

is

hungry.

really

I

found him

for

Communist’ song about

it.’

room watching East

in his

he told me.

I

want

come back

to

the band’s

felt

the ball rolling for the in

we

film,

black and white on

finally

the next stage. 1

6 mm, and

it

left.

I

freed up.

was shooting

was

decided

I

We

runner, but airport. John 'Boogie'

I

We

to

quit while

spent one

we

last night

still

had some

left,

out on the town.

It

and to

was

fly

very

I

the

looking great.

Because no money was sent from England (Malcolm had put a block on any funds),

here

and couldn’t even

couldn’t play,

optimism and ideals were

walk

Berlin Wall,

telegraphed

He'd already started putting down the

away from a country where we

down the street. All we really had started

I

more funds.

good. There are so many different channels on

the Sun' on a fag packet or something before

in

a world

band outside the

in Berlin.

management company] asking

was

place

television. 'This

next day.

trip.

home

to give

further

back to England the

tempting

to

do a

thought that the authorities would probably have caught up with us at the

signed

for

A & M

straight after getting

back from

Berlin.

Tiberi

to every night. of

Bowie.

Pistols. for

a tour

Berlin Wall. Sid's

of the

We were

6 mm, our

in

quite

I

didn't

want

bombed-out

hypnotized by

British Visitor’s

to leave him behind, so It

was desolate -

the sense of looking

Berlin was depressing.

black and white, outside the checkpoint, thinking

It

film compilation.

and Steve thought

toothpicks. Steve liked the food,

256

service.

with a pocketful of

viewing points, climbed up and looked over.

getting impatient

theirs.

people knew how to enjoy themselves. Nora had given

those days.

was something we could use

Sid didn't

had

I

the main street to park outside the hotel,

to find this city

at Glitterbest [the Pistols'

lyrics to

a sauce

appropriately enough. John thought these were the best

and took the boys

there wasn't any

off.

in

out to a club, a transvestite club run by

Passport would not get him through Checkpoint Charlie.

we went around

London.

they got back to London,

The drinks were green and very expensive. There was no sign

And nobody had heard

the

grand.

was covered

deutschmarks: he hadn't spent a single pfennig throughout the whole

On

was

It

of

everybody else enjoyed

to eat out.

in

We

pissed, so

Watney's Red Barrel and the punk poverty.

Sophie

but they liked the look

returned with the sauce cleaned

fussy about

allowance

kept the band outside

had successfully escaped the tedium

Sid ordered a steak and everybody copied him. that pissed Sid

of

I

He was

were quite envious.

Upstairs, everybody but John

cash and

of

at the hotel,

We could

We

off

were

offered

who'd

of kids

full

home

Despite the

way. By later

we

had come as some surprise

have to go

dirty pair of

We

the Beetle.

off the front of

very different to Britain.

standards, they were well behaved. I

took

turned

I

street.

arrived at our hotel room, It

pair of brothel creepers. his

who

was a one-way

it

nightclubs were

who

Sid,

when

the car. Unfortunately,

forgot

Berlin.

went.

time to Sid's

for the first

Heathrow. John had to make

at

so

in Berlin,

at the airport next

was introduced

I

jeans, a top or two, an original Seditionaries'

Steve and Paul arrived together

and

settled there

contained no socks, no underwear, a

that

and

lived there,

where Bowie had stayed

to find out

trip]

Kempinski, which was

the

was

in

met called Nora Springer [Johnny Rotten’s future

I'd

although they didn't meet on this

wife,

it

Bowie had

again (we went there every night). Paul wanted to go

visited the club

as he didn't want to spend any more money.

started by

it

was

time for lunch.

We

church while eating wurst and mashed potato with

and then went whoring.

was horrible.

watched a

I didn’t like it. ,» Above. Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten

in

Berlin • Opposite:

The Sex

Pistols visit the Berlin Wall

wie in John 'Boogie Tiben

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West-Berlin

The tour manager had worked with Abba. John Boogie' Tiberi

We

had

to get out of

London and away from the round

band. We'd hooked up with a very nice agent situation perfectly.

was

it

time.

We

great.

We

were back around

travelled

a

promotion and aggravation that was dogging the

of press,

Sweden, who was completely

- small clubs

to basics in

in

Mercedes bus,

that virtually any

with

all

the gear

‘on message’; he

band

bunged

responded

in

the back, and had a fucking great

The tour manager had worked with Abba, while the audiences were always kids - young people out

time - which

is

what we needed. Steve and

Paul,

even when they weren’t playing, which

were so fucking professional. Every day they would

practise, practise, practise.

afterwards helped point the

way

to the

Spots

No

of

for a

good

course they hadn't been,

matter what else

Swedish experience, then a couple

they were the real pros. They just loved playing. The whole

to our

have played - and

starting out could

was happening,

of gigs in Holland

tour.

John 'Boogie’ Tiberi

We

it

took

off.

He

a while, Sid Vicious found his Alt Marlin, editor.

way up

filmed nearly the

nights.

capture

It

this

to

258

was obvious he

didn’t

much room on

want me

there.

to

fly

little

plane.

fat

I

had

to

sit

bastard - get

off

The whole thing about Sweden

had. They really did need the break. Then

and proceeded

this

kept saying: 'Oh, you’re a

it

nearly

all

finished there. After

the plane...

whole Stockholm gig as

We

was

in

part of the

London, so

the biggest production

we

ongoing

didn't

have

film

to

number we’d done up

concept.

It

meant organizing the cameras

pay on the spot.

until

then, with

We

did

it

was

a strong imperative, even then, to get

edited back

in

complete Number One

it

while

we

could.

London, working with Julien Temple, who’d

(a

Sex

Pistols documentary).

We

were able

It

was

come up

on the second

locally,

of the

two cameras. The whole idea was to

event from the historical perspective. You can look back with hindsight and see

do, but there

worked.

it

He

Record Mirror

then giving them Virgin's number

two

front

there wasn’t

didn’t stop complaining.

He was a moany git anyway. This time was getting away from all the trouble they’d me!'

I

me

flew to the next gig. Since they hadn't been expecting

on Johnny Rotten's lap while

it

extraordinary,

was

the right thing to

and the footage

really

with the idea of filming off the monitor

to project footage from

Stockholm

at gigs

as a

Above, clockwise horn lop

left:

Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious

at breakfast: Steve

Jones with

his favourite reading:

Johnny Rotten

'in

disguise'

valid film of the their

band

power. Without

in it

action, a real demonstration of

there would have

because there simply were no gigs filmed later gigs at

in

been no record

believe

could

it

all

be

he started believing

the UK... Julien

Penzance on the Spots tour and

it

madman,

that

and you see

was

that

importance. The others were getting pissed attitude

for history to

judge them

in

at their best.

started turning

from the

when Malcolm Scandinavia.

because he to

became

a drag

was

He

thought Sid

didn't

was

getting into

have enough to do, but

So we

all

used

night with Sid just to try

found

still

it.

to take turns

if

smack

or

you're trying

and keep

it

hkm

taf

staying up

in

on

away from

him,

just ‘out there'

A Patou ludienc*

m

I

think.

and

While

having a laugh because he didn't

Scandinavia • Above lover

Hoodies setting up Ihe stage

if

with John's just

- everyone was going round

it

this

Finnish

was

something but

was

itself

own

funny.

I

true.

we

embassy

We

at three in the

actually got the

thought Finland

was

lor a Pistols' gig

to get the

ambassador. That

was

neat on the tour

until

the

final

local equivalent of the Hell’s

their actual

Angels

(I've

name, but these are older guys,

They

didn't

into violence instead.

of there.

It

we had

pushed

was

I

had

the only time

the actual full-on

to the floor,

all

the

blue lights flashing, the shouting and the crowd... now that

was

fantastic!

John 'Boogie' Tiberi

Basically the Sex Pistols in

the UK, so in

hours before

confrontation

Stockholm, which was nothing to do with the gigs

The

band away and out

police escort - accelerators

It

in

and were getting

it,

fights.

something was going on, but

on tour with the Sex Pistols that

they were

important.

Roadent. aka Sieve Connolly. Pistols' and Clash roadie

Everything

that

morning

thought we'd get a secretary

all

You'd be a nervous wreck afterwards.

John started to take himself too seriously,

he was

in

menacing) were outside picking

really quite

were aware understand

just

Mind you, was good getting a phone call Sun saying we were banned from Finland. We

phoned up the to ask

keep someone away from smack, you don't send them

to Holland.

he

really

sent the Pistols over to Holland and

off

and Sid doing smack, so the whole thing

the bend.

John Boogie' Tiberi

The only time the whole thing

But then

now: he's

Huddersfield, and, together with the Stockholm footage,

chance

fine.

boorish and he's got a horribly inflated opinion of his

they form an incredible picture of the Sex Pistols action, a

anybody was

true or he didn't think

listening to this ranting

really.

forgotten

bikers,

and

was

Sweden, and I

to leave the country. I

was on

I

found out

a bloody train for nine

even got near to where they were playing.

a sort of social club attached to a factory; the

audience seemed

who worked

there.

to

be the sons and daughters

These were

atmosphere was more All

were being banned everywhere

were forced

like

real

young

kids,

of

those

and the

you'd get at a weekly social...

Marlin

259

Wednesday, August

iTAIN’S BIGGEST DAILY SALE

IOOL: Pop king

IE

Elvis Presley as his millions

-VIS PRESLEY, the (challenged king of >ck n' Roll, is dead.

And 1 ht* petstar llious

oi’

ouglioiit

42 vem- old who had adoring fans

world,

the

alone when me yesterday.

the end

is

collapsed yesterday afteron In the sprawling man[e

Memphis. Tennessee, he had turned into a

In

>n

it

But for years before that, liver and increasing weight trouble had led to fewer and problem fewer stage appearances. the once slim nnd fact, In

From

ANTHONY DELANO

I

In

handsome singer who made unot

Heartbreak Hotel and B ue Suede Shoes had become immensely iai. He also had to Ihe with the memories of a broken marriage While doing his army service in West Germany, he met and fell

but could not revive him. w.i.s then rushed to hospiwith fus bodyguards following the ambulance There, they broke down in tears as doctors pronounced him dead of

life,

Elvis

tal.

L-iter.

a

millions with over 20 years record hits like Hound Dog.

told

New York

In love with the colonels beautiful daughter, raven-haired Pris-

hospital

spokesman said the jock king may have had

Beaulieu The- married

cill

a heart attack. But it wo s an open s cere/ that Elms a recluse hiding inside hi* palatial home for months was using drugs including heroin. Tiie star who never .-moked or drank had been ill for months

—

tress against the world [lets w.is found b\ ho ro.id nager He gave him the kiss

a

i

daughter. But

idolised Priscilla

—

It*!

ning

for the

all

ui-ht

as

MOURNS..

a

of respect, d o Luxembourg

By JACK LEWIS

i

cancelled tisemrtits

all

for

Vegas

records,

books

and

posters,

Daily c

h b o 4 r d

Mirror

was

with calls iroin fans ni.mv of

|»ed

—

Ihe roots of pop music have been taken awav. Hp was the man •

who

started

it

all."

a live

for memory.” Louis chief of I'KmiMIIV

“He was me. He v c

r

in

like will ni)

Couttelenc. the II vis's record \

said

for

Elvis

insisted

it

Just

way because he was wearing a bulletlooked that

Health

last year Hi, home wa, a shrine to Elvis.

said: god to

appearance

a

his

name He

its

the

rhuncrd

Cheshire,

he 1973.

stav In hespita!. the first tin«‘ tans noticed how flabby he had become. for

and

i

Is

in

proof vest. It emerged that he had a morbid fear ot being shot while performing.

king

night, r jockeys on Kidiu nbuurg and ( apital played Elvis

whom

i

in

last

and had

1067

then

problems Elvis s that. Alter started growing. became cleat that By 1975 .something was badly wrong. He had to cancel a

HE ROCK WORLD pop world was

in

Lisa,

him

t

I.as

>ck

1977

throughout the *orld knew him.

fans

of

17,

in

however, that, After deteriorating health

hi.-

made him

stay in seclu-

longer foi and sion longer periods, broken by several stays in hospital alter Last night. hearing the new.s of has

Elvis

was dead before he died,

and his gut was so big it cast a shadow over rock’n’roll in the last

few years.

Our music

is

what’s important now.

Johnny Rotten, Melody Maker, 18 August 1977

Aton Elm ^ertormirm

»

Las Vegas

261

The Spots tour was the peak of puok for me and most of my friends..,.

The Spots tour was quite a Julien in I

Temple

falling

Cornwall, right

in

laugh.

remember

I

front of the stage: that

and

They

that

just sort of ran

was

head

part of the fun of

first

like

down

into the

In

the early stages of punk, there

quite dangerous.

was good.

don't think people thought or analysed too

time.

things

through the ceiling of a club

Then

Pistols played the

much

at that

whole

thing,

no punks

there.

all

Roadent

time

were so few

exploded.

When

of us

the

Plymouth, there were

in

it

was

Sex virtually

been transformed. Punk had

popular that there were hundreds of punks.

happened

within the

space

of

about

1

achievement, and this

a tour running well

was

only

was

meant

be the

into the following year.

-

States, followed by Europe again

place to do Scandinavia, and

all

The UK, the

the dates were

maybe even Russia

The Sex of the

in

after

Pistols

huge

were

finding

it

difficult to

publicity. Virgin therefore set

tour

which stood

tour

made

for 'Sex Pistols

on Tour

play

live

because

where they wanted

trying to

was

to be.

keep the tour going but

It

I

was

had to believe

the start of something because so

were against John 'Boogie' Tiberi

us.

pretty grim

many

it

things

each

gig. This

if

lucky

Sex

The

life

in.

was

It

as the Never

Pistols hadn't played live in

All still

the problems associated with there, the local councils

enough

of the right fans turned

requirement

made

word leaked enough

out, they

Stephen Colegrave

up

be held

clandestinely,

would be canceled. For those

- musically

Penzance.

It's

powerful

stuff,

proving just

had come. They'd gone away with

at least.

away

in

still

was

how this

front of relatively small audiences,

at the door.

Julien Temple, film director

for

a mockery of Virgin's

to catch the tour, they probably heard the

Pistols at they very best

in

far the Pistols

and now they were back with people being turned

occasional appearances around the country,

assertion that these concerts had to

and

tour.

months.

for six

began

actually

reputation, forged

officially secret,

exactly

UK

everything really kicked

It

The

Secretly'. This

the road again; that's what they'd been born to do. they were

when

for

very important

up the Spots

but required carefull orchestration to ensure that although

Now

the

shot start of

that’s

coming together.

was

saying no. Of the dates they did play, the best film

America. Steve and Paul were just loving being back on

All that practice, practice, practice...

because all

assemble the footage

started to

the Fury the Spots tour

the Anarchy tour were

0 months.

a major

to

and

Mind the Bans It

Nigel Wingrove

Just getting something on the road

When we Filth

By the time they came back on the Spots

the whole thing had

tour,

become so

it.

first

all

it

The Spots tour was more sophisticated than the Anarchy

tour.

The energy was

different,

and

it

was more

of a

show. The aggression and everything that was punk

was

still

there, but

you could Nigel Wingrove

it

feel there

was changing. was a change,

It's

a

a real

bit

corny, but

shift.

mm*

We were top drawer.

The Sex Pistols pop up again

at

the Winter

Penzance... Strangely enough, this

in

Gardens

one

is

of the

few gigs on the secret tour where the secret

is

too

category.

when

had

It

all

things had

happened over

moved on

the

in

that six

UK

Paul Cook

months away,

punk scene...

John Shearlaw

well kept. George Gimarc. Punk Diary 1970-1979

I

went along

Around

know what in

we

that time

did another tour of England.

be secret. Everyone from

to

this big

phenomenon was

So

was.

do

interviews, to

see what the

way we could

the only

had

was happening

that

came from America and

England. The press

the world to

It

over the world wanted to

all

all

over

was

to tour secretly. Paul

photograph the

whole place erupted. There was a audience, and

it

seemed

It

was

[the gig at Brunei]

some top shagging on boy when came down to

that tour.

I

was

the top

there, least of

shouldn't be

band.

it.

it

it

how

Steve Jones

We

the place, but there

were three top ones

Damned and

We

To

tell

bands.

you the

We

third-rate

the Paul

of violence from the

towards

We

in

I

was

thought, ‘This

I

seen us as a

were way ahead first

us.

all

were

really

of ourselves.

in

that big

knew why

very confused by is

horrible,

small,

We

clubby

didn’t

know

20 rows.

England's Dreaming

broken on a nationwide scale.

really

There were bands coming out of the closet

the

it.

like this.' I'd

to get past the

Johnny Rotten

Punk had

a fiasco.

which was jam-packed, nobody

anybody was

did

lot

entirely directed

Dennis Morris

the sheer popularity of I

the stage, the

the band.

hall,

Cook

And

be

to

gig at Brunei

live hit

latest thing

without hassle,

tour,

to

and when the band

University,

the Clash].

truth,

like

to

over

were top drawer.

we hated most

had nothing

bands

all

[the Pistols,

just

All

almost impossible to think of any other group who've

much impact

The opening the Sex

with so few

those

live

performances.

had created was being

Pistols

so quickly by other bands

of the other

do with them.

Chelsea were

It's

created so

who were

filled

signing deals and

and here the Stranglers,

building bloody great tours,

among others, spring to mind. ‘Punk’ in inverted commas was a huge live draw, and was starting to sell records.

jumping on

bandwagon.

it

Meanwhile, the prime movers

Cook

in

the

movement were

GUEST

being marginalized and excluded. The Sex Pistols were

On

the face of

it,

the tour

is

shambolic outing which contributed to the Sex early demise. But

So many

it

was

of their internal

on stage: Sid's

terrific

backed

looked on as a short,

a crucial stage

Pistols'

in their history.

dramas were being played out

insecurity as a

live

performer,

into

It

1

last

996, when

turn out to

Steve's quantum leaps into the really powerful musician

John Shearlaw

far left

Johnny Rotten on low

u

Scandinavia • Near

left:

A Scandinavian audience

really all

were taking on the

but destroyed

in

the

fight.

shouldn't be forgotten that those seven or eight gigs

were the

John's control over the audience, and over Sid, Paul and

Owwtt

a corner - they

United Kingdom and being

BACK STAGE

they played virtually

see the Pistols

• Right: Johnny Rotten's selt-cuslomi/ed shin

in

the

UK

until

they re-formed

in

a whole generation were ready to live.

and a backstage pass

\ulliori/(k d

by

Date

265

picked up a Super 8 camera and that was the birth of the Don Letts that the world came to know.o^ I

I

kick myself for not filming or photographing, or doing as

gave him a camera to do,

in the

Roxy and he decided

to

how

learn

I

for

something. For whatever reason, she gave myself.

It

was mainly

would have

at

the Roxy that

lost forever the

I

me

Vogue

at the

started to film the

I

punk

learnt

bands

at the

movie.

I

tactics. I

tired

picked up the Super

Roxy. The next thing the press

thought, that’s a good idea, that’s

at the

ICA

his first film

for six

and

he’s

he had nothing else

was

great, but

time] picked up that I

had

to

punk rock groups,

I

learn ouum

8

Slits,

Wayne

I

wanted

wanted

how to

do

to

film for

Without Don, we it

was sanitized

before the real early scene

out... just

moved

on.

camera, and did the DIY thing by filming the

was saying, Don

punk rock. And

a hell of a lot since then. That

footage of the informal gatherings

266

a DJ,

Someone

When my white mates around me were

that

Letts,

DJ

at the Roxy, is

making a

became The Punk Rock Movie, which

weeks with queues around the fucking block.

moved on

with Generation X, the

does not

Dm uns

Don

Letts’

Punk Rock Movie

is

detract, however, from the fact that

Pistols at the

Screen on the Green backstage

County, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Clash on the Wflute Riot tour,

at his flat in

Don, unlike many, could get closer

own

When he was

conscientious.

punks on the Kings Road. The Punk Rock Movie

he shot an essential document of the time. He caught the Sex

in his

it.

Don was

energy, rawness and attitude of the early days of punk, before

captures a vibrant musical scene on the brink of selling wmgrove

could.

a Super 8 camera. Then,

by The Great Rock’n'RolI Swindle or sold out with

that

use

I

thought, I’ve got to get involved in this shit. The DJ-ing

more. Caroline Barker [fashion editor

ran

to

and he was the one who ended up with the footage, tndmcaanii

picking up guitars,

Nigei

much as

Forest Hill after the Roxy.

to all the

way, he was totally aloof from

it

.

The most important part

main players than anyone else as he was one

of

it

was

of them, but

Chris Sullivan

Opposite:

Stills

from Tbe Pont

Pod More

,vSY*.Yw' 0 IS

S

efi&'KjsS

m

j&tiss

f.

CC

SIS TO SHOW

SHWrjf,

R^L^HQB-MI'lBgr

•:

We

felt

second

we were playing fiddle to

Malcolm and

Vivienne.

Helen Robinson, designer

314

Above: Boy

in

toe Kings Road

When we opened would walk

We

in

we

said

Boy, the people

who went

to

Acme

in

do them any more, so they walked

didn't

They couldn’t handle

it.

We

were

stupid.

We

out.

should have

Acme name and we would've made a lot of far as we were concerned, being creative and

kept the

money. As

original

Only the few with

Attractions.

was

T-shirts but the rest

bondage trousers were made

but they were

money. That's

the

shop

the

overpriced.

of blackout

same

brilliant.

wish

just

I

I'd

have to work our arses

for Saturday, stuff in

Sex

as

for

off

would

it

weeks.

done them. With Acme

all

week just

all

go,

to stock

whereas you’d see

We clothed

most

of the

people on the scene but Malcolm and Vivienne got

Boy was

the offspnng of

same

by the

Acme

Attractions.

was owned

It

people, namely John Krevine and Steph

credit.

When we

argued

went

continually.

to Boy,

Raynor, working with the designer Helen Robinson.

shop and Krevine wanted him but Steph refused.

Market

the Kings

in

Unfortunately, they

gung-ho

into the

Road

to a shopfront just

dropped the

punk thing

retro

as

just

down

the road.

the groovy types

were becoming disenchanted with punk and moving back into

a more '50s

[the

German

style.

Others were getting

electro band]

chaotic uniformity that had

Germanic of

order.

peg trousers

The only

that

were

rather well for the next

now

totally

and reacting

old

I

The old adage

that the

dose

of pair

stock that served

laboured and hackneyed, which

candle that

as long seems to

fit

is

me

is

the fate of

based on sensation.

bums

twice as bright

this particular

to put

in

It

I

Then John

and released them

would never have done, as

ended

all

just

was

and we

stupid

and

worked because

want

didn't

horrible.

quite badly.

about

Ikm

it.

A

in

that period,

lot

0m mm

of the people that

tetri

Inn

Boy

all

the credit for

and Steph and were I

were

quite angry

part of the

scene were

part of

was sex - people walking round

it

hanging out - and the media loved

was

good

very

at

what he

Everybody had to worship Vivienne.

We

Gene

did,

October,

with

Malcolm

it.

and nothing else mattered.

at the shrine of

should have carried on with

John Krevine did

any more.

it

Malcolm and

Acme

Attractions.

and form the band Chelsea, with

try

Billy Idol

and Tony James, but they

have the same impact as the Sex

didn’t

Pistols.

Helen Robinson

Boy soon became a

tourist

Chelsea Potter and watch

punk

T-shirts to take

cash

in

and fucked

shop.

all

We

used

to

sit in

the

the American tourists buying

back home

Boy

to their kids.

tried to

it.

Frank Kelly, Sex Pistols' aficionado

When we clothe a generation of movers and groovers, with

Acme, and then Boy, although

Boy was

all

first

of

all

the stuff they did at

rubbish, apart from the Seditionaries stuff they

was John

licensed. But that wasn't Helen or Steph. That

Krevine trying to cash

in.

Then, of course, they opened up

a shop

in

slightly

space-age, padded shoulder

Covent Garden, PX, which used

Billy's,

the club that

stuff

spawned

to sell

all

which was the

that all

who went to Billy's and the Blitz. The Blitz was down the road in Covent Garden and we used to go there after work. We knew Brendan, the manager. Steve Strange [later of Visage] was working for us in PX at the time, and introduced him to the Blitz. We also knew the bloke who started Billy's - David Claridge [the man people

just

Andrew Czezowski

behind the

GMTV night,

offered us a

shop

in

James

dissatisfaction with punk.

Street,

of our

so

I

asked Brendan I

Punk was blown out

of

all

I

said, 'Don't worry.

I’ll

knew there. let

if

we

could do

mentioned

stupidly

back and was doing a night

and he

|i

character Roland Rat]. They'd recently

something on a Tuesday.

which became PX. The shop was a reflection

I

I

had a Bowie

Blitz.

we again used to sell out of everything. we clothed another new generation - the

did PX,

With that shop

Chris Sullivan

thought that Malcolm and Vivienne got

everything

be

their bits

Strange, and the next thing I

to

Malcolm and Vivienne's thing

Helen Robinson

the rage at

bill.

Cfcris Sullivan

It

into the

another £80,000,

lasted six months.

of Vivienne's designs

designer myself.

money

To give them their due, Helen and Steph Raynor did

few years. The punk thing was

every aspect of popular culture that

lasts half

with a

bought there was a

Acme

I’m a

lot of

into Kraftwerk

to the scruffy,

become punk

thing

all

under the Boy name, which

aspect and went

all

Krevine bought

We only

the

all

Steph and John Krevine

Steph had put a

They had moved from the basement

of the Antiquarius

proportion, it.

material from the war, the cheapest material you could buy,

we would

Helen Robinson

Acme

or Seditionaries - the rest couldn’t afford

Everybody bought the

The

doing something

new was more important than making why we haven't got any money now.

us -

fact clothed by

money wore Sex

and ask where the peg trousers were.

he'd I

you

it

to

Steve

gone behind our

asked him about in

it

for free.'

Helen Robinson

315

the more true to the spirit of punk

Tlie uglier you were.

you were. [Jubilee

the

is]

punk movie. 'Rule

first 'official'

have them pogoing

in

as

Britannia’,

mimed by

Jordan, should

the aisles.

amusing

for

a while. The whole

thing, unfortunately,

had a

Daniela Soave. music journalist

soundtrack.

truly duff

John Shearlaw

Oavid Pine. Time Out, February 1978

The enduring image was Derek Jarman was a very respected film-maker, and [released

our

film

in

February

1

978] as very

much

a

rival

we

really

had

to look at Jubilee

one

project, but not

that

really

would stop

[The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle] from going ahead.

Jeremy Thomas,

She must almost

film producer

of a naked, fat

and rather frightening Toyah Willcox, who wasn't

an actor, but hadn't yet been moulded cringe to look at that now.

seemed

to throw

back

And

into the face of the

that Jordan

woman

you that thing about the

New

Romantic pop

star.

doing ‘Rule Britannia'!

days of punk,

It

like

the uglier

you were, the better the punk you were, which may have been Derek Jarman's

intention.

at

early

Daniela Soave

If

you weren't on the guest

stilted

list

for the Pistols'

the country

-

trip,

the only alternative

Year’s Eve party, with tea

It

was

the present, as a

way

of

surreal

and Ribena

Derek Jarman's take was to go

right

and unforgettable,

for refreshments.

back to the

showing how

bizarre

that things like the Jubilee celebrations could revolution.

He

Mm * m

dodgy

was

street parties

the all

over

fold-up tables, miles of bunting and Union Jack hats, and every lamppost

bedecked with bog paper.

OpHtfi

boat

celebrations of the Queen’s actual Silver Jubilee at

also

came up

film Jubilee •

bkm

Stills

first

a broad daylight

could only happen

Queen

Elizabeth

in

New

England.

and bring her

into

and disintegrated the country had become, still

be going on

with the idea of crazed

Irom Jubilee

It

like

girl

in

the middle of a

punks running

riot,

punk

which was

Derek Jarman and Malcolm McLaren went back a long way. Unfortunately, Jubilee was a badly acted, over-arty and gratuitously violent the early Let

It

Rock crew, and the

film

bears

pile of rubbish.

crowd. The whole punk scenario had moved on by

‘78,

marriage between the present-day punk

its

that,

Toyah Wilcox was

in

it,

Punk Rock Movie was and

which still

really

reality

says

is infinitely

Jarman had been part

of

the hallmarks of that early art college

all

and

it

more

all.

and the

far

more

film

was

arty past.

As a testament

a nonsensical

Apart from

to the era,

Don

all

Letts’

relevant.

Chris Sullivan

317

He was leaving end

of

to live in

what he imagined was decadent rock’n’roll heaven

September he was playing the part of vocalist

in

in a set of mostly covers at

part of the Idols, with Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan [of the

New York

Dolls]

New York. By

Max’s Kansas

the

City,

and Steve Dior. (Nolan had

thoughtfully introduced Sid to his methadone clinic: medical staff there had been astonished by the extent of Sid’s addiction.) tone

and opposite

Sid Vicious

nth Hid Jones and

the Heartbreakets on stage at

Chris Salewicz and Adrian Bool. Punk: The Illustrated History ol

Mix's Kansas City

a Music Revolution

Porn Pop art

and

show- distasteful

unartistic. Daily Mirmr, 19 October 1976

When

Throbbing Gristle supported us

at

the ICA, me, Joe

and Bernie were walking through Soho and saw bits of film in the gutter,

we

so

thought

stuck on our shirts under these

little

we

all

these

could use them

plastic

pouches. At

that

we

intended to use the

understand, and

The

film

bits of film, but

they didn't

why should they? They were coppers.

was probably

out-takes from

some Carry On

film.

Paul Simonon

the time there'd been a big fuss about Throbbing Gristle

showing police

this

pornogaphic

film

they would smuggle the film

these

with their show,

and the

were stopping people and searching them,

bits of film

in

in.

As we turned up

our pockets, the Old

Bill

thinking

with

all

searched us

and found them. They thought we were smuggling the pornographic us going

320

in

film into

the ICA, so they almost stopped

- and we were

playing.

We

told the police

We

went

to

see Throbbing Gristle

at

an old school

the Harrow Road, and they played this film of

with

an actual castration. Then they

some weird

shit in

1

built

it

made

your ears

these

fires

made this that was so

them, and then they

bloody horrendous, cacophonous racket loud

in

930s medical

hurt.

It

was

delightful.

Chris Sullivan

Above: Throbbing Gristle (Chris Carter. Cosi Fanni

Tutti,

Peter Chnstopherson and Genesis

P.

Orridge)

It was more to do with living

in a late capitalist society. Andy

Gill,

guitarist

Gang

ol Four, in

Unlike other punkish

England's Dreaming

bands

in

the movement,

Gang

of Four rely

more on sparse

No,

I

never

really

had

it

with the

Gang

of

Four - bunch of miserable northerners

sounds, heavy bass and rhythm.

walking round indoors with their overcoats and

George Gimarc. Punk Diary 1970-1979

off!

No, manically depressive sixth form

Doc Martens

common-room

on. Take your bloody coats

music,

Robert Elms

They were an

interesting band.

They were named

They had a more cerebral approach sociological message. Their lyrics

the Sex Pistols.

Compared

to their music. This

Gang

band

of Four

actually

in

China.

had a profound

were much more complex and meaningful than

to them, the

the sidewalk saying ‘screw work'. That Gene

after the

Sex

Pistols

were

just like

was about as profound as

There was

terrible violence. [There

Movement members on

some guys on

Socialist Workers’ Party

they ever got.

to the

SWP We

those broad

Krell

and the

had done some

political

were] pitched battles between students and British

the university campus.

terms.

It

BM

benefits, but

was more

to

Nils

of Four

- the students loved 'em.

Stevenson

tom

rhe Gang ol Four (Jotin King. Andy

Gill.

Hugo Barnum and Oave

Allen)

do

to the

Andy

Gill in

people

in this

we

could see the struggle between the

didn't

do with

were also very concerned about the spectre

Gang

We

capturing the straying youth.

We

were sympathetic

make our own approach

living in

in

a late capitalist society;

of Thatcherism,

and what

it

was going

we to

country.

England's Dreaming

321

Their record attempts to communicate in an almost tangible way abstraction of fthe] Beareocks’ 'Spiral Scratch',

LMhg- and is on the Enigma, label. a concept

'BP,

It

Is

an

If

It is

all

proclaims on the sleeve; 'This

enigma,' Despite

all

the

called ‘An ideal for

thfo the record

is

is

not

structurally

good though seundwise poor, a reason EwhyJ it may not tee widely released, a dry* doomy group who depend promisingly on the possibilities

They’re

of repetition,

sudden stripping away with deceptive dynamics,

whilst they

use sound In a more ortteode* twcHticit manner, Paul MorlBy,

went

l

^ir%/ca/ £r///gw, I June

1378

to theh first gig at the

Hope and Anchor

tin

London],

We

used

to

make up our minds at the last moment whether to invest BOp In going downstairs, or stay drinking In the teat. It was one of those nights,, when the

iOp was

probably better spent on beer, Joy .Division were depressingiy

monotone, They weren't angry, it

didn't help that Ian Curtis

just pissed off in that northern

sang so

posey way

flat.

Stephen Colegrave. author

They were given the punk label because they were around But 'New Bill

322

Dawn

Fades’

isn't really

punk, Is It?

It's

just

a

at the

same

time,

beautiful song.

Dunn, senior editor, Esquire magazine

Above; Joy Division (Stephen

Moms.

Peter

Boot

Ian Curtis

and Beriuril

AJbteofit)

The Fall? But maybe I’m stupid**.

I

always

music

liked the Fail; their

Mark

run-in with

arid their attitude, hOtwithitShdihg

my one

and; only

C Smith, which was comical; more, than anything- We’d been booked to

play Huddersfield Polytechnic as

second on the

to

bill

Sham

69.

We drove

up there

a

in

beaten-up old Bedford van. nearly dying from the exhaust fumes coming through the back.

We were was

knackered when

around

strutting

was:

his attitude

we

and

arrived,

a major rock

like

We re the

Fall.

star,

We’re the

we walked

straight into a row.

very obnoxious local boys.

and

Mark [Smith]

very, very pissed. Basically

We're the stars up here.

We

should

we had been booked to -be Support. The altercation was only stopped when Jimmy Pursey (leader of Sham 69] stepped in to say that he would open the show. The Fall did get to be support, and we got to headline, so honour was satisfied. was amaling really how many characters in punk were just so much like the old be second on the

even though

bill.'

It

rock'n'roilers the

the

lyrics, but.

ChhstosTianni. musician;

We ve and

works

The

E.

right to

be sweeping away- There was protest it

was

I

wlfina be a rock

in

star.'

[to

We

it

a record label].

It's

a big help. We're independent

use a public phone box

our advantage. People can't get

in

for getting gigs.

It's

great

touch with you unless you

tQi

Smith: singer with .the

M,:f^wMsMix0essi 't3l|Wt JSHfc

name supposedly came

Fail's

to

Oolj

how we want

want them Mark

itig

never been signed up

that's

[and]

punk movement was meant

underneath; not very far underneath;

intellectual than

Sham

from' the 'Camus: novel

L& Chute - a

bit

more

69.

Stephen Gglegrave

They made no attempt

punk

m my

haircut

added of the

I

to

sound

liked the fact that

to the

Sex

(ike

punks, Which perversely

book Mark E Smith wore sense

Pistols.

into the Fall,

which

his

he never adequately explained anything

of mystery. Fall

songs stay with you long

And he keeps moving, is-

very

made them even more

work clothes and couldn’t

too, incorporating

afford a spiky either,

after you’ve

which

new sounds and

styles

punk indeed.

IBiliOunn

The

-Fall

played with us a couple of times,

Character - and Sine Severm bass

H'qM

Mart

[

Smildi

still

is

player. Siguxsie

^ but

i

j

always

(iked'

Mark

never got on with the musiC;

and the Banshees

E.

Smith.

just

grown out

He was

a

Pete Perrett Ones

of the Only

was a

genius.

Christos Yianni

The song 'Another

Girl,

having a great opening

Another Planet' gets line

about

Only Ones were quite poppy Pete all

was from Camberwell

right.

And he

flirting

really,

[in

my

vote for

with death.

punk

hardly

at

The

south London] so that

married Squeeze's bass player’s

but

all,

was

sister.

Their early stuff had a reputation for carrying hidden drug

references.

The Only Ones were OK.

Christos Yianni

Like American

bands such as

Television, the

Only Ones are trying

genuinely

new and

Talking

Heads and

for

something

individualistic, taking

a stand against

the burgeoning encyclopedia of rock cliches that has

clogged up the airwaves from the In addition,

early '60s

corporate professionalism that their punk lack.

There

Only Ones'

onwards.

these bands are also blessed with a

is

rivals

taut,

so often

a compelling self-confidence behind the

vision,

which attracted

[starting] with Peter Perrett's

me

from the outset,

haunting songs and

brazenly unorthodox singing, and stretching through [to]

the resolve and unity of the players themselves.

Nick Kent

324

New Musical Express,

13 May 1978

My

Thomas,

uncle, Gerald

sent the original script back with a note saying,

1 found this

where

The whole

film project

was about pushing back

the

same

badly

it

We

boundaries.

fucking things that the Pistols had been against from the beginning.

went wrong, the

totally different

way

original idea

was

of looking at things.

Steve Jones; Marianne

weren’t going to be

and building an audience, doing

the fucking Jam, or the fucking Police, playing gigs

However

a valid one, a fantastically exciting one, a

Seeing the

amazing - we'd actually created the Nashville. The

first

sets

built at

early visuals

were

Bray Studios

I

was

to

my

films.

was

where

uncle, Gerald

eventually sent

in

a search

it

was

I

off

by

and challenging things around

lot

of

to create the Carry ‘I

found

version,

On

sent that

I

in

like

in

who was

cast

a masterstroke, porn queen Mary Millington

one scene. What was amazing was

the papers, Ronnie Biggs

that hardly

any

Rio being the only exception. By today's

standards there were Big Broker-style scandals nearly every week during the whole it

took to finish The Swindle, yet there

-

which involved the great

who was

tits,

script,

was

and he was only stopped by the entry of the

had departed,

series of

this script in the toilet

very close to Julien [Temple],

was a

been warned

reputation for badness, which

and a

Russ Meyer

the

became

get the film finished. The Swindle

exciting

struggling with her heroin addiction,

still

hardly a juicy

word

in

the press.

Malcolm’s method of dealing with everything that was happening was to change the

[comedy

Pistols'.

over Europe for the perfect pair of huge, cantilevered

all

I’d

Meet the Sex

back with a note attached.

he never did find After that

rollercoaster that

Tits

Thomas, who'd done so much

belongs!' Then there

it

Faithfull,

what seemed

in

John Shearlaw

Johnny Speight, which was basically 'Big

director

then,

belongs!’..

it

seduce Steve Jones

to

made

three years

fantastic

involved, right from the beginning, from the earliest script written by

He

was cast of this

John 'Boogie' Tiberi

writer]

mum;

as Sid's

-

the toilet

in

had the it,

which

fighting to

and

Sex

Julien

was

the only person

in

vision to stick with that. Glitterbest

we were

all

Pistols' tour

looking at things

manager

(i.e.

we

Official Receivers.

a position to get the

was

collapsing,

could do, which

me) ended up becoming

is

and a

why a

stills

Once Russ Meyer

film finished, lot

of our

and he

dreams with

recently redundant

photographer

for the movie.

John 'Boogie' Tiben

rollercoaster that lasted three years - a

my

peers, even though

the time.

at

was hugely

The

Pistols

it

was one

of the

were stuck with

most

this

I

really

off.

out of proportion to what they actually were,

made

The

film’s

that film.

I

was

learning to be the devil

a great shame,

like Fairy

Snow

in

that picture, but

I

failed to pull

it

against bleach. Mild...

Malcolm McLaren, Time Out, issue 526, 1980

people didn’t want to touch them.

Jeremy Thomas

Malcolm [McLaren] was never keen constantly

some TV

let

me know

to

have an unknown director do things, and he

the time he threatened to sack

that. Half of

me and

bring

in

director.

Julien Temple, film director

The whole saga

of

The Swmdle.'Who Killed Bambi ? was

before soap opeias, or even pop movies, were

week the

there

money

was a new really

A new source

come from? There were rumours

forgotten star had

326

twist or rumour.

been brought

in

to play

that

a running soap opera,

like

really tabloid

newspaper

of funding

some

Johnny Rotten’s mother or Sue Catwoman's

The names themselves were

TV funny woman

a reputation on set for talking

who earned

did

crazy out-of-work actor or

lesbian lover or something equally unlikely. Irene Handl,

stories. Every

was found - where

great: dirtier

cheesy than

Above and opposite:

Stills

from The Sreei

RocJr'nM

Swindle

a

Sting had to act out raping Paul Cook in tlie back of a Cadillac.

The

should be

film

retitled

Sex

Pistols: Castrated... no

A

subversion, no excitement and no bollocks.

victory to

the music industry and to the legal system, the opposite of

what Glitterbest and the Sex Pistols were

about.

all

supposed

to

they don’t

like

think

it's

be

Julien

Temple

hip, left, liberal,

it.

I

a pile of

smug London.

don't think they

will.

I

I

hope

scenes missing

original

because

in

of legal problems.

the

final

The Grundy

interview had to go, as did an interview with the

head

There was also a scene with a gay group called the Blow Waves (one of them was Sting actually - he of EMI.

was

‘raping’ Paul

Cook

in

the back of

some

Cadillac).

rock film since Laurence Harvey and the Expresso

Bongo

in

1

to

complete the

this thing

to

keep

it

film.

It

side of Malcolm which never wanted

was

the

he had created, and going.

Tne Sex

last, living,

it

Pistols

had taken over and he wanted

breathing part of

was almost as had

split

that to

go

if

he needed

up, but the film

wish The Swindle had been

was

It

partly

totally chaotic,

because

because

328

was

a

bit

Z

in

a more industrial

in

We

two months -

conducive to

at

-

because

partly

all

of the general anarchy,

reacted to them. to

made

and

of

Edinburgh,

this local

hard

film

- a

one

in

of

man was

right into the stalls.

It

were magic.

came

The Swindle because

off with

try to rewrite history.

us. Fact

is,

It

was making

we had

out that

a band before he

along.

Paul Cook

money, Rock'n'Roll Swindle ? Yeah, especially

partly

and how the group

weren't shooting the film from I

On

a Carry

shite.

pissed

Malcolm did

and not

of the pressure of events

that kind of

mafia

was

in

Dempsey, punk tan

I

A

go see

if

you paid to

it.

Frank Kelly

mean we had maybe 90 camera The Sex

Pistols

were

group anyway. Their whole approach

world was fragmented. They wanted to see

was aimed against the mafia - the alternative who run the British Film Institute, and what is It

film

like it

the balcony above us. acting the goat, fell off

he manufactured I

see

Richard did

959

assistants over the three years.

on.

Jeremy Thomas

Cliff

Stephen Woolley, film producer, Time Out. issue 526, 1980

getting what you intended

was one

The

punk rock movie worth anybody’s

serious attention, and, more excitingly... the finest British

way.

Julien Temple

I'm sure there

in

and the cunt Certainly the only

to

I

playing up

Julien Temple

,

version, mostly

When went

those old-fashioned cinemas,

shit.

Jamie Reid, graphic designer, Time Out issue 526. 1980

There were many

The Rock'n'Roll Swindle was

bad one.

think they'll

it

to the

Rock'n’Roll Swindle..

.

really

atrocious

film.

Brenda Lamb, punk trendsetter

splinter in

thought

was

crap.

front of their faces.

I

Julien Temple

Roadenl aka Steve Connolly. Sex

it

Pistols'

and Clash roadie

Wove

and opposite:

Stills

from The Brest

Roct'n'Mt Swindle

,

Talking Heads, New York's New Wave band-without-an-image projects feelings of compulsive elation and warped normality. Search

Talking

Heads were

Their music

but good.

I

the clever side of

more comfortable than backs.

In

New Wave.

The Talking Heads were

was more intellectual. David Byrne was arty felt much more at home with their music,

that

with Sid Vicious behind our

second wave

of

music

at the

before British punk started.

beginning of punk

danger

of

came back

liked the Velvet

stuff like that.

again, things that

I

Then

I

[could] sing.

Whereas those

other things were interesting to hear, they

weren't things

could walk

Oavid Byrne. Search

330

Underground and

songs more

&

I

Destroy, issue 5.

to think.

They get confused.

whole mechanism

for the

of

I

don’t care too

promoting yourself,

I

really feel

it

requires a

lot

of thought;

I

want

to re-think

the whole idea, figure out the least objectionable Talking

I

much

the promotional apparatus that surrounds rock groups.

again.

Clive Langer

Clive Lunger, songwriter and producer

started liking

regular radio-type rock’n’roll band, and they just don’t

know what

being

and other American bands,

they re-invented themselves and

the Americans.

in

down

1978

the street

and

sing.

Heads

the year,

’77

was Andy Warhol’s

and Eno was another

favourite

1978

Destroy, issue 5,

band, and then they hear other things that imply we’re a

movement

think the British

swept over them and they were forgotten. But, like Blondie

we needed

I

&

album

of

fan.

we can be David

Bpe.

presented.

Search

&

.

.

Destroy issue

so as not to turn people 5.

way

that

off.

1978

John Shearlaw

I

I

don’t think that the [record

figure us out.

company] people... can quite

They hear some reports

that we’re a

punk

loved the Talking Heads. They were very danceable,

like

a garagey, danceable rock band. They were lots of fun. Hilly Kristal,

owner,

CBGBs

Above: Talking Heads (Jerry Harrison. Tina Weymouth, Chris Franks and David

Bpe)

* Opposite: Alan Vega

Alan Vega and Suicide I

thought Suicide were extraordinary. Here

rock'n'roll.

When

J

look back at

piay with the Clash.

number one

influence

with a drummer.

were Tpny

terrific.

I

I

it,

was

a group using technology to play

beautiful,,

much as do today, and Suicide was the on Zigu© Zigue Sputnik, who were a T-Rexed version of Suicide

didn’t

Some

understand

it

of our best tUhes

as

just loved the mixture

briffaffiitf I

Mick Jones was Very visionary to get them over to I

thought they were 'incredibly innovative*

Of ’Yiv They inspired a

in

New

York as the

final

SuWde were huge

really

my

forte.

Suicide used to be put on

band because they would empty the room

late at

all

the Max’s Shows, and sure

run out of the room. They Weren't what

I

Hked, but

I

really quick.

Loved Alan Vega and Suicide. to

I

saw them support

them, which would

be

interesting.

I

seems

it

lot

of their stuff is really

very so, ft of 'New York

and

'72

people,

if

appreciated what they were doing.

the Clash at the Music Machine.

thought the Clash's audience would

They did and Alan

just didn’t blink.

I

in

1977/78, but they’d been around

took that long !

'tee

7@s

New

for

people to get

York.

their

fo.r

years, since the early

heads rou nd what they were

They ruled the gaff - they were

New

days 'Op to.

York,

Milirr

Mtt ithit ioiSuloide to come and was. quift •t§

see them, not the Clash, and

and space, A

back;

Peter

enough people would

Jayne County singer actress and OJ

went

lot of

If

.feSiye#

•of

always liked Aian Vega, but the music wasn’t

here

electronic

Frank Kelly

.

and ideas were nicked from Suicide - they

James

would always put them on

-

very minimal. You can trace

They wen t® !

sort of punky Soft Cell

I

try to bottle

thought, ‘This

is

to

if# MMtt if% 'New fOrk band *

pfepifii

m

ipmclied'

Aim

a Wltf' t

support u$. There

was

only

two them, and

it

m% how they coped with the CM* audience. They didn't want

m Ihey

they wanted

tO'

see the Ofash,, .NOW, They w#r@fYt

one skinhead jumped on the stage and they were brave;, they finished the.tr set, Alan had

threw- things and

Suicide: did weii;

nose' and

a red toot* but

they inlshedi.

figured there should be a female counterpart to

/

Nils Stevenson,

manager, the Banshees

was

Siouxsie

already becoming a

significant artist,

little

so

'face',

knowing how

difficult

I

it

set out

on a mission to help her become a

would be

for

record companies to accept

a strong female character. Although Siouxsie's performance at the Festival

in

1

976 has become legendary, the band's

the beginning of

and learning

1

first

100 Club Punk

in

the process. Kenny Morris took over the

from Sid [Vicious] and,

for a short period, Peter

Mo

Fenton was the

Tucker-style

guitarist,

but

money,

lent

I

drumming

was

was extremely passionate about

and looked upon

fear

in

became

became

easier for her, as she

was

Siouxsie looked so stunning there

group matured of the Ice

in

the

media

rock stakes, she also

Debbie Harry's

pretty,

In fact,

away from the

became

as the venues got bigger, flying bottles

in

become

started copying her style.

the female counterpart to Rotten

the intimidating English brunette antidote to

in

In

the punk

New

of the

blonde, poptastic punk princess.

little

Nils

shit clubs, usually

1

Nils

borrowing equipment from the suppor. band because

any equipment of our own. Nils wanted

to build a big myth.

He

we

I

am

eternally grateful).

my

neurotic

However, defying

all my instincts for self-preservation, my wings were badly frost-bitten.

always had his eyes set on a bigger deal, a bigger

commitments from a

I

flew

label with

label.

He knew you needed

real

decent money.

Steve Severin

If

8 months up and down the motorway.

which

too close to the Ice Queen, and

a record

company

We

played

never had

nurtured us, as did Leee

did offer a pathetic deal, as

punk acts around took whatever was

accept crumbs for

(for

Stevenson

of the

had worked almost non-stop

foursome, namely Siouxsie and Steve [Severin], accepted

Yorker

Stevenson

We

with

and the

launched a thousand looks as fans

Sounds magazine,

would be huge,

my obsession

everyone's advice to the contrary, and denying a

it

and gob. Because

naturally a lot of interest from the press,

spotlight. Siouxsie’s face

Queen, as she was dubbed

a short time not only did Siouxsie

Nils

further

was

from support acts. During that

a formidable presence on stage, showing no

facing up to fucking ferocious audiences.

project. At times

excellence drove the group completely nuts but, for a long period, the two important

behaviour as par for the course

etc.

the group, never doubting that they

development as a long-term

members

farcical formative period, Siouxsie

332

their

replaced by the darker John McKay. Until they were signed, the group didn't have any

amps,

they gave us

brilliant;

until

equipment, so they borrowed drum

kits,

The Heartbreakers were

us equipment and gave us studio time.

Steve Severin

proper gig didn’t take place

977. After that they toured relentlessly, building up a large fan base

to play

Childers, the Heartbreakers' manager.

cultural story,

the table for an act

off

and

I

I

Decca

offered.

I,

did,

I

turned

down. Many

knew would add

a significant chapter to the

determined to use our greatest disadvantage to great advantage.

Instead of being embarrassed about the lack of interest from labels, fact that record

it

on the other hand, refused to

companies were overlooking one

I

played up the

of the biggest live acts

in

Above

left:

the

Siouxsie and Jordan

Johnny Rotten, and Siouxsie was the ideal candidate. country. This

made a newsworthy

of the group,

and

Siouxsie and the Nils

story for the music papers,

who came

further increased interest from punters. In the

Banshees were the

eyes

out

in

support

of their fans,

in

debt

more than a few months

for

leverage. Despite Polydor’s misgivings,

Stevenson

album, The Scream, which

We of

sold out the

Roundhouse without having

John Peel sessions.

were sexy

We

had a large group

right there at the beginning. Also, the

woman

there were

in

all

British punk,

and

put a single record out, not even a couple of fans.

They respected us because we

music was

different.

Siouxsie

was

the

audience would be Siouxsie clones. By

half the

first

978

1

kinds of second-division bands, but the Pistols were off to America and

become

a ground-breaking

effect, treated the

and

was

I

for live their

were the Stranglers. So

you wanted to see a premier league punk band, you could

rather than

at

the

Roundhouse.

things

come

to

an end, and

co-produced the group's

and untested Steve

in

success

first

single,

June 1977 Polydor capitulated and signed

was became

that

It

I

shared a

kkm Snum

had a

a Top 10

given free rein to do whatever

the

common

vision,

their Nils

shit

fit).

This

was a perverse

love

song

a delightful piece of nonsense designed specifically hit

when

it

was released

1978. Silencing the non-believers and proving to Polydor that

we were

like

an indie

me

in

my

office.

label.

in

We

It

relief).

were

went on

We

to

then,

totally

in

focused

which we had our own agent

Since the group spent most of

flats,

and the Banshees

houses or

cars.

in

the form of

These methods

wages

for staff

of operation

and equipment,

enabled the Banshees

stage and media presence, away from the

major musical force, way beyond the stereotypical contrivances of many of

punk contemporaries. Indeed, they invented a whole new

style

- Goth.

Stevenson

‘Hong Kong Garden’, with the then-unknown

Lillywhite (Polydor

Chinese take-away.

for chart

single off the debut

hit

influence of record companies, stylists or any other outsiders. They rapidly evolved

Siouxsie and the Banshees. Since Siouxsie, Steve and

to a

major record company

into Siouxsie

into a

I

the

left

option to Polydor

meant they had no

to universal critical acclaim.

record (Polydor heaved a sigh of

to develop, unhindered, a unique sound,

Sieve Sevenn

good

the black, which

time working, they had full-time roadies and a minder/driver. Everything went

back

see the Banshees

in

able to build up an autonomous operation

Of course you could see the Stranglers anywhere, but they

if

hit

new

beginning of each

we even

was released

shows, working alongside

the Clash toured Europe.

All

at the

because every new single would put us back

outlaws.

last

recouped the whole £20,000 advance. During my tenure as manager, we were never

we wanted. Sales

Banshees (John McKay Kenny Morris and Steve Sevenn)

in

our audience,

of the single had, after

bought Juju

their

all,

[their

1981 album] on the strength

best album and

When

September

we knew

I

John

McKay

was

a defining

moment

for

of 'Spellbound'.

Goth, marking a

did a bunk, they replaced him with John

It

was

definitely

real shift in style.

McGeoch who was

the

best guitarist around. Stephen Colegrave

333

No gimmicks, no theatrics. Just us - take it or leave it! Public Image Ltd it’s a piss-take, it’s ironical. Don’t you understand? The public image is limited.

Look,

want

I

change

to

more

And

change the music business,

to

but

that...

all

take years.

it'll

But

skilfully this time.

I’ll

right?

want

I

have to do

it

be with a vengeance.

it'll

The

in

Filth

was mad,

them

Some

have played more. country.

and the Fury

In

of

it

We

was

totally

Sex

Pistols’

person

for

booked

in

success

It

was one

to deal with.

do a major TV appearance.

woke up

We were

But John could be a

for Virgin.

company

a record to

hell of

difficult

Once PIL was

Virgin sent a car for

the morning and said,

in

‘I

ain't

doing

the studio waiting for him to turn up.

sitting in

all

end we

the

a problem because the whole

show was

By the time

was a

lot

978

guy

that this

minder, found

me and

everywhere.'

went round

that

was

I

who was John

Paul,

said, ‘John's

later

Wobble joined returned to

Ltd.

We

if

I

said

John thought that was great. At the time

worked up the logo to get

idea.

We

all

away from the punk

had been so closely associated.

agreed

it

I

He made

coloured zoot

all

his suits

suits.

I

-

all

would be

look with which John

We

went

to

was

On

Italian

The reverse featured Wobble

the inner

bag Keith Levene was

in

in

typeface.

We

were the

first

at

334

ads

all

an underground station.

Dennis Morris

first

the

record

Vogue

way down

‘Are

we

going to

I

call

it

said.

should

him Jah Wobble?'

call

We thought that was very cool. He couldn’t play knew about reggae, and music dub

particularly loved

Keith Levene, guitarist Public

in

bass, but he

general, though

we

The

Ltd in

gigs.

Filth

By then

play properly.

was

who

He

deal. Keith

couldn't even

had moved to Island Records, but

I

I

could

at

my

still

work with

PIL.

John

office at Island rather than

was

It

I

went

to

in

there that

had

I

Dalston [east London]

a factory called Metal Box.

up with the idea

package

to call the

the Slits

When

John came

album Metal Box,

When

I

said

had

to

this

idea to Virgin, they said ‘You must be joking.

it

a real metal box.

in

cost too much.' Not prepared to give up, factory.

They had loads

for film,

which were

of

I

went

I

we

tried to sell It

will

to the

boxes that were a standard

just right. In the

size

end getting 10,000

from the Metal Box factory worked out cheaper

was emboss

and the Fury

Upp from

the leader.

Wobble, who was

do a solo

to

than producing a mainstream sleeve.

Ari

was

that

which was quite strange.

worked out Nora Springer and her daughter

Box record launch, there

thought of him as a bass player

of these

at the time.

Image

UK

like five

it

and

it

was

we had

All

a perfect size for the

to

do

vinyl.

It

really well.

Dennis Morris

were there from day one. Nora was going out with Chris

getting

was

some

pretty

filthy rich

heavy pressure from Spedding. She

in

to

show

that

whole show. He was

and was besotted with John. Of course,

John married her

PIL were OK, but not a patch on the Sex

which goes

Pistols,

Lydon was by no means the

just part of

it,

though

I’m sure

he believes otherwise.

the end.

Stephen Colegrave

Dennis Morris

suit.

a blue shiny

Mad

did crazy promotional campaigns. to put

to style

a sharp

jacket with Jim Walker, the drummer, and the

we

should

over the

all

and the Fury

Filth

had managed

quite a clever guy, just

there

the band too. John Grey, John's best fnend,

you think

The

when he found out

infuriated

the secondary school

you

Spedding [musician and record producer] and John was

Ken

those wicked, bright-

designed and shot the

sleeve with John on the cover with lettering.

was

said, ‘Don't

said,

for

house one night and

we

McDonald, who had a shop on the Kings Road, John.

it

the PIL logo could actually be an

working with Terry Jones from ID magazine, so

good

Image

called PIL or Public

started throwing ideas around and

would be great aspirin.

London from Jamaica, John said

new band

he'd an idea for a

he

in

of

the idea for the metal box package. Across the road from

Lydon's

So we had a name. 'Wobble's coming over'. And

Public Image?' he asked. ‘Limited,’

Three days

been looking

to John’s

we’d formed the band.

it,

some

going on between Keith Levene and

spent most of his time

1

we

fucking crazy, but

to the Metal

Dennis Morris

in

the Fury

very frustrating.

the rest of the band. Keith thought he

at Virgin,

When we

came

it

of fighting

Chris Blackwell agreed

was

was

something

did

based on him.

It

and

worst enemy. Richard Branson

supportive and had lots of loyalty to John from the

John, but he it.’

own

his

Filth

should have got out

Jah Wobble, bass player, Public Image Ltd

John was sometimes

The

in

very intense, a real mixture of feelings,

really funny.

know we were young and

I

they won't know.

John Lydon

It

John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten)

We

the escalators

It

was

like

really intense.

us now.

very naive

We

in its

I

own

have a manager, and the band was

way.

We

could never get fucking

happening, and because John had been

earned that reputation, stuff

many bands

don’t think you’ll find

didn't

we

in

the Pistols and

could get away with a

other bands possibly couldn't.

It

was

lot

of

totally anarchic.

Nora teams up with Lydon during PIL and they get married.

She

inherits a

Geman

the fortune that goes with to

live in

ever

it.

publishing empire and

They move

to Beverly Hills

a mansion with a pool, and they

after.

So much

for

anarchy

in

all live

happily

the UK...

Chris Sullivan

Above: John Lydon « Opposite: Rioting at a PIL concert

in

New

York

Sid

fell

under Nancy’s spell

let

her run everything.

and

Leee Childers, ex-manager, the Stooges and the Heartbreakers

In

retrospect,

looks

it

like

Nancy and Sid were

about Jerry [Nolan

the only

Before she met Sid

Ramone were the same... They were always fighting... Gyda Gash [of the Transistors] and Cheetah Chrome

Carnaby Street on my way

from the Dead Boys... were always at

Nancy weren’t a

novelty.

up couple. Nancy

She had a

really nice

They were

just

We

apartment.

some scrambled eggs

and

another fucked-

in

New

York.

was walking down

I

I

it

‘I

I

see

Jerry. I'm

rest of

New

She wasn't

nice.

I

to Track Records. All of a

I

have a

didn't

London,

in

felt this tap on my shoulder. turned around was Nancy Spungen. She said, ‘Hi, I'm in London.' thought, 'Oh, no!’ She said, want to see Jerry.' was determined: I'm not going to let you

sudden

and

remember her making

I

She was

once.

too. Sid

it

on 23rd Street

lived

shower, so we’d go to Nancy’s.

going to keep you away from him and the

my band. You

go near them.

can't

York where you belong.’

She

just

couldn’t hurt her feelings. The next time

Legs McNeil, writer on Punk Magazine

was I

wanted

to talk to

On me

the Pistols’ American tour, he

about her

had known Nancy before he questions

like,

was she

about the time

Nancy and the

I

in

New

were

driving

because

around in.

.

It

.

.

I

told

friend Dave,

this

little girls,

Bob Gruen

Kill

in

Please

uptown

really well

0 months

he showed up with Nancy.

later,

like

He

didn’t talk to anybody.

just

teachers, nurses.

new

give him a

stoned out

Me

one.

He would

She was always obnoxious and

stop

NANCY:

was

It

1

We made

a real

good

I

great fun on a dirty floor with the

DOA

and

I

didn’t think

friends looking

us...

Nancy

saying, 'Bobby,

Let's take

some

look terrible.

in

of his

a stupor.

hand and

sip these drinks

and be

taking.

There are so many theories about her childhood, but thought she was horrible.

keep her away from

I

Sid, but

horrible.

should have tried harder I

was more concerned

I

ro

just

I

you should take pictures

remember a couple

come

take

I'll

I

sleep. Call

some

I'd

me

pictures.'

say, ‘Nancy, in

style, or

you

three or four

They never did

never did take any pictures of them.

thought of them as friends, not as people

a look or

of

of times

over to the Chelsea.

pictures together.'

Get some

days, and then

by Lech Kowalski

like that.

get any sleep, so

I

stood there

had

have no pictures of the two of them. They were my

friends,

INTERVIEWER: What were you doing? Screwing? NANCY: Sucking and being dominant and submissive. Sid licking my feet and things like that. film

We He

one...

film.

Never Mind the Bollocks poster under

Scene from the

He was

Bob Gruen

Leee Childers

it's

for

eight or

another person.

head on whatever they were

of his

Give us £1 00.

NANCY: Oh,

on the bus during the

Nancy would take the empty glass out girls

to

- you

her she

US tour. We'd sit together and talk When he came back to New York, about

SID: Hey, do you want to make a pornographic movie?

SID: Yeah,

saw

almost no conversations during the whole time.

Nancy was describing

was

where they had theme rooms and... various

[dressed as]

1

know Sid

completely stoned and was

him

I

off

Pistols’

hours.

I

would ask me

a prostitute?.

when my

whorehouse she worked

brothel,

the time

did. Sid

really

York

all

back

with Sid.

got to

Sex

Go

walked

any more fucked up than anyone else.

Sid loved Nancy.

336

of the Heartbreakers] at the time.

fucked-up people but, you know, Connie and Dee Dee

who were

who had

inspiring a generation.

Bob Gruen

Right: Sid Vicious

and Nancy Spungen

'US-

»

" '

*

yj

VgLiillW

\

-

"

finds him in

his girl’s a rms

FREEDOM:

VICIOUS, the tormented I of punk rock, died of an

i

r

Vicious with his mother alter his release on bail

Strike-hit Britain

rdose of heroin yesterday. c was found naked in the arms

.

.

Strike-hit Britain

.

— .

just

one day before he

died.

Strike-hit Britain

oi

girl friend in her New \ ork than twenty-four hours after he

latent lev*

released from jail on bail. • le

mother. Mrs. a cup of tea In

I

and frantically to wake Vicious,

p

girlfriend.

soi*.

rar*

Michele

was complete. that he had

while thev slept said last night he laid taken the Q overdo* by ucctlire

u. guitarist the now defunct PUtoLv hud been

rtou.*

ren l.«j >«00.00(1

ofler to the

public service

manual

workers.

Industrial Editor BltlTI'sll Leyland boss Michael Id war ties was lighting last night to head off a strike that enuUI linaliy put paid to (he slate -owned firms recovery

hopes.

lie said: “The 8.8 per cent is talking about has not actually been offered. ** Thousands of workers will be on strike nest week in addition to those already operating work tooverlime bans and

everybody

^ Continued Page Two MAAniWS I

By GEOFFREY GOODMAN

on

ns AM

tnlon

leaders

have

threat-

ened

to order all the ear company's 100,000 production workers out on strike unless an efficiency rise agreed last Dec-

ember The

is

paid.

top union negotiator. Grenville llawley of |hr Trans port Workers, said hr would rrromtneud live days' strike notice to a shop stewards' ft«

A AAA

threat meeting

in

Coventry on

.Mon-

day.

The I’N'IONS argue that thee are now entitled to pay rises averaging al*out CS a week under the productivity package agreed last rear. Leyland BOSSES .have told Ihe

worker-,

that

thev

taut

have the cash vet because production targets have not brra reached. Production was hit bv the lorry

strike,

drivers'

which

halted deliveries of component*. ".1

.

.Iisputt

.1

I

'

helped John with his court costs and Malcolm lost everything Virgin

....

Malcolm hoped our record sales would be enhanced if

were under the impression

the public

banned from

Some

halls

playing. That

was

that

and then the receiver was set up,

we were

deals with

certainly untrue.

settled at

wouldn't have us, but others applied to

Glitterbest for gigs during

977 and were

1

in

[Cook] says

to

be the moment when

was

original

adjourned.

date

was

the case started a few days after Sid died

and

Paul,

talked to

in

November, but then

in

made a statement

I

New

York.

later,

in

February

actually only

1

a few days

to Malcolm.

John hadn’t

really

anyone on the Glitterbest side since America.

Malcolm's allegation was that Lydon was defecting. saying things about what had happened

Richard Branson

was

interfering;

Steve and Paul backed Malcolm practical to

back Malcolm -

where John was going. Public Image Ltd

348

it

979, and

John wasn't talking to Steve

and obviously not

.

.1

If

I

I

I

in

I

was

Jamaica, that

was persuaded... a

initially.

guess

I

It

bit.

much

seemed

how good

later.

And as

far

Sex

know. The case

he wanted the Sex

as record

of

be much better deals. Paul

to

Pistols individually

were much

Pistols' tour

better

was heard

Pistols'

McLaren so even

if it

third party.

He

importantly,

be put also

in

the hands

wanted the

name

to

that

could not be used for a band again,

it

be taken out

of the reach of

consisted of the other band members.

he wanted not to appear

.

More

live.

Pistols' finances to

and adjudicated by a

Sex

the deal for The Great Rock'n'Roll

contract-wise than they had been as a band. Tiberi,

preventing the band from playing

fresh

in

Malcolm

Finally,

McLaren's forthcoming

film,

The Great Rock'n 'Roll Swindle.

manager, 1977-9

Stephen Colegrave. author

Virgin

helped John to take Malcolm to court

royalties.

I

think every bit of

for

unpaid

money Malcolm made,

Johnny

including the royalties, went on the film [The Great

Rock'n'Roll Swindle ].

He

lost

everything because he

didn't really fight the court case.

couldn’t be bothered with finish the fucking movie.

pop

star, let

all

He

that shit. said,

‘If

He

just

wanted

John wants

star,

to

to

but don't sue

The court case was Sex

this

point.’

split

Pistols

like

Malcolm. They both get

partially settled.

had earned £800,000,

The court ruled

that the

Sex

Pistols

Although the

little

of

were

it

remained.

entitled to

money, minus reasonable expenses. However, as

money had gone, the only way for the Sex Pistols be paid was to get The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle

the to

had

much

Helen Wellington Uoyd

be a

Joe Corrb

It

very

Malcolm said he

him go and be a pop

me. He’s missing the

is

suspicious. They both get paranoid.

seemed more

didn't really follow

could have got excited about

just don't

do

relations

were severed with Johnny Rotten, or John Lydon as he had

become. The

until

Swindle was; the Sex off

1979

a statement to court, 7 February

John 'Boogie'

The court case appears

not

all,

basically to

The whole management issue wasn't

contracts go, they

either

refused or received no replies. John Lydon, formerly Johnny Rotten,

Virgin.

to

happen

would

Rotten,

spill

was

eventually.

The Sex

Pistols/Glitterbest

over into the courts. John Lydon, aka

suing Malcolm McLaren for

damages

for

soundtrack out as soon as possible, and use the profits to settle. Stephen Colegrave

ended in a really messy and sordid way. The lawyers got hold of it and that was that. The receivers came in to sort out all the money. all

It

It Urn

was a

Tie London cmrttouu ftiere the

Sn

real mess. Pistols did battle with

Malcolm McLaren

We

didn’t

see a penny

for

10 years...,, 349

you hate tlie

If

National Front

as much as you do me, they’ll never get anywhere! Patrik Fitzgerald, musician

You only have to look

at the recent riots in

how

Bradford and Leeds to understand

benefit

and the National

can be.

Front,

problems by a hundred, you

understanding the extent of the

He storms

tension

979. The Front's members, skinheads

in

in

Britain in

tow, were on

if

angry and

off,

who

idiots

committed -

bumped

they ever hurt,

shouting:

provocative racist propaganda. Attacks on elderly Asian

little

men and women were

George McKay, prolessor ol counter-culture. University

is

Against Racism answered a very real threat. did

was

make

to

Englander

We

were

and

similar again.

A

Chris Sullivan, author

it

was

a very fresh idea and

anti-racism and

and

a

at school.

It

think

I

of

lot

connected.

feel really

and people

make

It

incredibly well.

really did

it

people aware

invited to

Rock Against

were

Racism

stayed a vibrant grass roots movement,

really

where people had a Viv

Goldman, features

editor.

drawn.

I

think

of fun fighting the

lot

day

of the

lines of battle

clearly

trousers and boots.

good

good

remember the

clarified our position,

it

flying.

What

Bernie wanted to

and they

started

in

Trafalgar

Square and ended

with a picture of a

Bernie pointed to

and

the poster

London, where the Clash and Aswad were playing, along with a load of other groups.

absolutely dying for a but

we were

My most

memory

vivid

pee as we walked

is

into the East

and

trying to attack us.

and

I

So

a pee

showed where our

flag

are the arguments

it

to advertise the

and asked,

‘Is

something a

it

was

more

bit

march, and

how many's

this

said, ‘Well... yes,'

mind all

really

if

I

so Bernie took

count them, do

these hippies running for

money:

was

it

for a

unglamorous. You need

stylish to attract

young people.

Paul Simonon, bass player, the Clash

of

End,

surrounded by the police, and beyond them

The National Front were Their

of

skinheads heckling

footage from

out of the question

underline

1

how

976

in

The

of the streets

Leah Seresin. former singer, now film director

Filth

inflammatory

Rock Against Racism,

almost wet myself.

at their height in the

mid-1970s.

marches were reported everywhere, and we used

was

were hundreds, maybe thousands,

behind.

a fascist

like

don't know! They had this big poster

crowd

said, ‘You don't

good cause, but

that

Victoria Park, east

in

name

know how many people were coming,

‘We

said,

you?' Unfortunately, there were

Rock Against Racism march

we were

remember most

I

coming?' Eventually, they

fight.

Sounds magazine

big

Lancashire

thing to put our

on thought

around shaking these big buckets I

of Central

our manager, Bernie Rhodes, had with the promoters.

glamorize

those eras where the

of

crummy

do the Rock Against Racism thing a

like

of students early

lot

was

It

of the issue

engaged the youth

was one

never get

the graceless

politics,

bondage

his

in

seemed

group, so

Rock Against Racism worked

think

I

you hate the

‘If

they'll

What RAR

and old-fashioned.

bigotry very uncool

Maybe we need something

why Rock

worse

into one.

trying to cut out the football side of punk, the

combination of beer cans and

common. That

colourful,

anywhere!' From then on, and retrospectively, I'm forever

the streets outside tube stations giving out extremely

very

-

look great

treating him like shit,

much as you do me,

National Front as

get near to racial

these

all

than they would a Nazi

you multiply today's

If

will

with

bit,

sexy, energetic,

as represented by the British Nationalist Party

right,

1

Oldham,

virulent the far

and

some

of

the Fury simply to

these people were.

just for a while,

mood new punk

caught the

- the whole rag-bag of the

generation tenuously united under a well-meaning but Millions of lefties, punks, hippies, anarchists

blacks are hanging around giving out their

and

is

thousands set

anyone

tracts to

Fitzgerald

booed

of

What

Lett: Steel

stage,

In

leaflets,

papers

the fuck

is

My

at

idealism takes a serious battering.

in

some London

Pulse playing at the Rock Against Racism concert

meaningless banner.

John Shearlaw, music journalist

At

by

going on? He’s up there on his own,

massive crowd

essentially

the park, Patrik

canned and spat

punks who see the Clash's equipment being

up behind him...

front of a

who'll take them.

off

and young

in

park, doing his

one

of our

Racism on

it.

first

I

gigs

was a speaker

a Rock Against Racism gig?' stupid.

One

with

Rock Against

said to Chris, our guitarist, ‘Are

of the other

He

we

said, 'No, don't

bands nicked

it

from a

playing

be

festival.'

Suggs, singer with Madness

351

It was all over in 18 months.

You got and

these old rock'n'rollers - people with long hair

all

sorts of horrible clothes - taking their trousers

all

But punk was never hippie, and

wasn't pub rock.

it

wasn't about spitting, or cutting up a brand-new or the pogo, but

became

eventually

it

all

in.

original

self-sufficient.

alternative,

remember some years ago,

I

I

was

bass with Bazooka Joe and

one

night.

By the time

covered

them, ‘My friend would

Chris Dufty, former bass player, Bazooka Joe

man.’

freak

about?

take a photo of you, please,

like to

to

tell

Was

the guy, ‘Hey,

that the idea?

and have someone pay you

come

Krell,

is

on!

Is this

You dress up to take your

like

and jumping about

the

attractive.

It

was

tells

anywhere else you could care

this

[of

Sham

was always

69]

whole thing about

of

was

thinking, in

effort

it.'

saying, ‘We're

Fair

enough, but

at the Vortex

‘All

you.

The Vortex was

and

Street,' criticizing

tried to look

‘What fucking shop

good,

is selling

Oxford Street? What are you talking

about, you oaf?' Pirroni, guitarist Siouxsie

punk

and subversive

that

actively

like

was

exciting,

punk has become

silly. If

all

plain

girl.

encouraged such behaviour.

an arsehole, dear

make

it

It

was

worse.

That's what

lot

of

just

was.

in

them was also

great refuge for the

was so good about

it.

became such a

it

pile of toss.

Punk music

actually wasn't very revolutionary and, after just

while,

it

all

an excuse for a load of bottle to break

their

actually

was disgusting. wankers, who ordinarily

gobbing, at the acts.

It

wind

sounded the same.

unsophisticated, especially

and

soul,

if

in

It

seemed

very

you’d grown up listening to

and then things

like

Lou Reed and the Velvet

Underground. Even though the Velvets were raw, they were quite sophisticated. Suddenly,

were

all

supposed

At one point

I

to

when punk came

become dumb and

was

1

3 or

1

It

was

along,

thought, 'For God's sake, these are

4 and

Why

I

trying to pretend

used I

we

act really stupid.

to

do

1

8-year-

that

when

was a hard skinhead

are they doing this kind of thing?'

totally idiotic in that respect.

Steve Walsh, guitarist the Flowers of

Romance

and make-up

and awful manners, jumping up and down and

was

of arse.

and absolute lemons, with

deliberately slashed T-shirts, ridiculous hair

would not have the

was a

it

it

people actually denied they were ever involved

or something.

spitting, or rather

ugly;

daft

the pictures, they

girls in

olds walking around spitting at you.

boy.’

The whole punk thing became a complete bag total

how

just

highly stylized, but

a

I

these

you see the

tremendously

were

jazz In

Pirroni

all

shows

the punks

all

of

Frank Kelly. Sex Pistols' aficionado

into this oikish thing

‘You should be doing that, you should

You should act

You had

sheep, bloody sheep.

Live footage of

because

with blokes drinking beer just as an excuse to be stupid.

It

and the Banshees

to... like

end

different; at the

Sun newspaper had

to mention.

change from something

different, individual

Marco

about being

Jock Scott

and they

you plastic poser punks

your punk clothes from Oxford

anyone who made an

punk clothes

started to

badly, but

remember seeing Sham 69

Marco

since.

the pre-punk days people were restrained from behaving

really stupid.

working class and we’re proud

I

been spat on

became

I

better than any other club, better than the Roxy or

name

all

The memory

A

like,

and

thought, ‘What the

a

Powell. London tailor

Jimmy Pursey

in

I

After that gig

Don't listen to what anyone

even

was

Chris Sullivan

extremely

Dylan Jones, editor, 61) magazine

like idiots in

you

it

acting exactly as the

wearing bin-liners with safety-pins stuck

at

was

I

what

photograph

of dancing... wasn't clever, intelligent, stylish, or

had

I’ve rarely

played

punk clothing entrepreneur

All that spitting

I

is stupid.'

we

the stage,

left

other people's gob.

in

about? This

a photographer, and

Punk

Mark

all

I

be two quid

said, ‘That’ll

a Beefeater at the Tower of London?’

like Gene

wanted

I

it’s all

352

playing

the Vortex

this

and the guy

was about

you go.

literally

I

up. At the start

told

fuck

mind,'

disgusting.

it

was walking down the Kings Road with a friend. We saw a punk family, real hardcore punks, with a cute little child who was only about two or three years old. said to you don't

was

Tony James, bass player, Generation X

I

if

vile. ..it

Rat Scabies [the Damned’s drummer] started the spitting thing... there

of that.

punks were proud they looked

and they were

was so

Jayne County, singer, actress and DJ

It

T-shirt,

Robert Elms, broadcaster and journalist

The

That whole spitting thing

Jock Scott stand-up poet

public, to act

Punk wasn't about

spitting,

wasn’t about being an rock’n’roll

and looking

idiot.

it

It

wasn't about conformity,

was about

it

playing great

fantastic.

Tony James

Atjors left

and opposiiE: Pustsn! omkHts

punk is an attitude If

rattier tlian

a style of music or dress, ttien two-tone was its offspring.

Two-tone's protagonists, brought up on reggae and punk, moulded parts of each to

make

a

new

The lineage

form. They

isn’t

added

obvious, but

and admittedly used

all

it

is

that

can do

‘I

attitude

it'

and created two-tone.

They were autonomous and independent,

there.

the doors that punk had

opened

for

them.

Chris Sullivan

Clive Langer. songwriter and producer

The whole punk thing did influence us

in

There were so many bands around that a

we were

able to play them.

We

that

we

in

I

went

the bar.

to

were influenced a

see these bands, and being

Of course, when we

the ‘can do' idea behind

it

thought

circuit of live

Deaf School and a strange pub rock, quasi-punk

when

of punk and then Madness was that when you went to a gig, the bloke who had just been performing on stage could now be standing next to you at the bar. He was just the same as you. He had the same common or uncommon accent as you. It was liberating. You were no longer divorced from rock stars; they were just like you.

The legacy

started,

lot

mix.

thrilled

none

of us

we

could start a band too.

venues had developed and

by Kilburn and the High Roads, I

remember

I

was so

thrilled

by the fact that they were so near could

really play that well.

It

was

The whole thing about the punk and two-tone movements was how quickly you could get a record onto the streets. into the studio, cut a record,

lot of

cutting records

-

who were

Chris Sullivan

354

just like

Jamaica, where guys used to go

was

and getting them out on the

sell

50

copies,

the greatness of two-tone - people

street.

a different industry now. Music today

into the early

punk phenomemon moved

in

one

of four

reality

clever, but

is

which was raw and

it

sounds manufactured.

natural.

Clive Langer

electro, rockabilly, a curious rock-dub fusion, a Velvet-inspired

goth vibe, and two-tone -

moved on once

was

Dennis Morris, photographer and record industry figure

It's

the people

It

pressed, go out onto the street,

then go back and press another 50. That

Two-tone had a

or five directions

it

that influenced us.

Suggs

A

get

again.

until

each one

of

them reached

'Erbertsville

and they

The two-tone movement became so big and successful the major record

that the

money men and

companies started appearing. That's when the problems began.

Dennis Morris

Above: Madness (Lee Thompson, Mar* Bedford, Woody Woodgate, Suggs, Chris Foreman and Mike Barson)

Luckily for Coventry, two-tone happened because, if it hadn’t, the town would have exploded, mm* I

was one

I

I

was a

to

go

to

wasn’t into the music that much, but

liked the spirit of

there

punk fans and used

of those early

Barbarella's.

it.

certain

When we began

punk

Specials

was so

the Specials,

sensibility, but the

environment, but none of them expressed

music and

the clothes were completely different.

'Ghost Town’.

valid

was

that

of Britain at the time.

been

left

into this,

Jerry Oammers. keyboard player, the Specials

in

it

One

was

I’d like

of the

multiracial,

which

is

it

as well as the

a true reflection

to think that

alone and unhindered,

it

reasons two-tone

would have developed

maybe what happened

in

Coventry.

it

somewhere

else,

were

really familiar with, the

A

of us

lot

and

punk had

if

were taking

really

had been it

was

into

and

it

was something we

two-tone suits and

all

that.

ska before punk came along,

a direction

we

could have returned

Reggae was an area the Clash explored

to.

quite thoroughly.

Paul Simonon

Stephen Colegrave

Coventry was an area which had got during the

Second World War.

There was

lots of National Front.

was

It

really

devastated

was very depressed. was very heavy. It

It

happened because music has

lucky that two-tone

always been the saviour of a divided society, and with two-tone

it

didn’t matter

if

you were black or white.

Dennis Morris

The Specials' music

The Specials were a

fantastic band.

It's

hard to explain

and plays

lot

of

bands

in

the

punk thing

tried to

unemployed and pissed

express the off in

an urban

They

balance between accessibility and

There was a special energy coming out

Dennis Morris

and everything they too

many strong

did.

of their

The problem was

individual

geniuses

in

songs

that there

the Specials.

It's

not that we’re just trying to revive ska.

old elements to

Being on tour with the Specials was

because they weren't

just

strike

a near-perfect

attitude.

were

all still

A

the stuff that turns legs to rubber

now, but they were absolutely the band of the moment.

Dennis Morris

feeling of being

is

pinball with your brain.

really refreshing

another punk group - they

try

It's

forming something new.

part of punk.

We're

direction. ...You've got to Terry Hall, vocalist the Specials.

just trying to

go back

New Musical Express,

to

In

using those a

way

show some

it's

other

go forward.

10 May 1979

\#

c.~

Jj

Afeovt

Neville Staples

and Jerry Dammers

of the

Specials

355

]

Bands that came out of places

and Belfast

like Liverpool

depressing

were more entertaining than demanding, IGSS

and a Liverpool

bit odder... ..

and Manchester

have punk in the sense of kids in leather jackets The punk scene was 200 miles away - another world -

didn't really

trying to look like the

Sex

and people were too

free-thinking to categorize like that anyway, although

everyone

liked the Velvet

Pistols.

Underground.

It

was

like

I

believe

speed and energy, whereas

Liverpool's

Bill

A

the Liverpool thing

were around 1

after Julian

kind of

Cope

dreamy and acid-based.

[the lead singer] took acid.

in

1

I

seems

975 and had a

to

stem from Deaf School and

big following.

‘What a

976 album Second Honeymoon was a great

took a few years for the Liverpool bands to break through top.

Way

to

their followers,

End

It

All’

who

[from their

to go to Eric’s [the Liverpool nightclub], so used to persuade my mum money she'd set aside for a new pair of Marks & Spencer's trousers and

was too young

to give I'd

me

head

the

off for

went on

Dunn, senior editor, Esquire magazine

lot of

it

a code to get into a speakeasy -

New Wave was

The Teardrop Explodes improved markedly

there, but

because the London scene was Clive Langer

mention the Velvets and you’re OK. The drugs were different too - southern punk was all

up

exciting

to

Probe Records,

become

Everything

in

less about

making

Bill

I

Liverpool then tits

of

bottom end

at the

lead singer of

Dead

was about

looking cool.

themselves than

we

used to jam with a band called Big

Hollywood] on bass,

in

[later of

Japan, which

Bill

Drummond [who

the Banshees] on drums,

Explodes] on bass. The Crucial Three Big

in

McCulloch joined

356

Burns [who

I

think teenagers today worry

later

was formed

in

[later of

1

977 out

Frankie

Cope,

Ian

[later of

Deaf

of the

Goes

formed the dance band KLF] on

and Dave Balfe

[Julian

much

Dunn

Liverpool has a history of producing odd, funny, off-the-wall, musical talent.

School road crew. Various line-ups included Holly Johnson

came from

Street. Pete

did.

’79-’80 period produced quite a few examples of

Budgie

Church

track.

Stephen Colegrave

I

of

or Alive] would be serving behind the counter.

to

Goes

to Hollywood, to

name

- Pete

Wylie, Ian

I

think the

McCulloch and

but a few.

Chris Sullivan

guitar,

Echo and the Bunnymen had an

the Teardrop

McCulloch and Pete Wylie] also

Cope went on to found the Teardrop Explodes, Ian Echo and the Bunnymen and Pete Wylie formed Wahl So was

Japan. Julian

it

Frankie

this

doesn't sound very

air of

haircuts, or the production, but the

Bill

like it’s

made

mystery.

Maybe

it

was

the long coats, or the

music on Heaven Up Here

by people

who

like

Ken Dodd

or

[their

go

1981 album]

to the toilet.

Dunn

Above

left:

Julian

Cope

of the

Teardrop Explodes

•

Above

right:

Feargal Sharkey ot the Undertones • Opposite:

New Wave band XTC

No one who had any sense of style had anything to do with New Wave

It was dreadful, just dreadful. Nils Stevenson.

New Wave was

a conspiracy between the record

Companies and the music press lot

bad shoes, blow-dried that

and

hair

New Wave

do

but the press

a pigeon-hole.

like

It

New Wave,

wasn’t good.

is

insipid music. Awful. Little

how, for the most parti forgotten,.

it

New Wave Was

similar to

New

Labour:

and dishonest, purely a marketing

totally insincere

to Prince Far

I

rather than that.

punk thing was suburban but

New Wave wanted

belonged.

Its

!

thought

New Wave was

about being inventive with

Simon

Hinton, journalist

1

Nils

Stevenson

weak

stuff,

the dross, the rubbish.

the top

band

in

the sixth form

common-rooms

that's the student union, real ale,

out-ompiink, insipid, pseudo-intellectual

missed-

stuff... isn’t it?

was

where

Midwest America.

in

the music loved by journalists like

music

because

journalists.

James

around

in

people were depressives, wandering

long green coats moaning.

was never my scene. sure

Chris Sulliyan

we hated

I'm sure they

I

must admit

that

hated us and I'm

them.

Robert Elms

There was that horrible thing called

The only

New Wave

was from

Liverpool.

who

Tony

New Wave

and poel

979.

Of

the

of the

be urban,

Simonon

New Wave XTC were

all

to

Robert Elms

New Wave -

New Wave was Paul

Most

aimed

manager. 1976

to stay in the suburbs,

biggest audience

the musicians looked exactly

your hairdryer.

it

Pistols' tour

ploy.

Stephen Colegrave

Chris Sullivan

I'd listen

real

whereas

Chris Sullivan'

prime examples - bad clothes,

XTG and 999 were

wonder

a

who'# been disenfranchised by

of half-arsed musicians

punk.

press called anything that wasn’t black

to revive the Careers of

Sex

stuff that I

was

in

any way interesting

feel sorry for the Liverpool

got lumped into that category;

I

think the

bands

music

was

really just

an excuse

load of records.

were

I

just horrible.

mean, If

I

New Wave,

for failed rock

all

these bands

wanted

bands like

to listen to a

which

to sell a

the Cars

reggae rhythm,

Whoever came up be shot.

I'd

with the term

have called

it

New Wave

should

shit.

Frank Kelly

357

H M ^4

'-/l

%

W3S never ebout

Plink

The only bands rock

bit.

bands

went on

that

that

in

do

to

apart from the Clash,

many ways were

the whole stadium

were

all

the really rubbish

absolutely nothing to

do

with the original form. They displayed this fact to great effect by playing antithesis, for

The bands

huge stadiums, which was the

in

want

that by

of a better term, of the

outfits

bill

and were,

ethic.

and large perpetrated such heinous

acts were the likes of the Police,

be on the same

punk

total

in

who

just

happened

shit.

The Boomtown Rats

were absolutely hopeless but were loved by misguided folk the

out that

358

world over. Blondie were an admittedly out-and-

pop band, so is

for

them stadiums were

fine

because

what pop bands do. You could also lump

with the stadium acts, but

and

that is

he was an

what you do original

who

if

Billy

was always

you have

it

rock'n'roll,

success. Anyway,

his

defies description.

I

don’t think

Billy

ever accepted the punk moniker for himself. The

rest,

the Clash excepted,

were

just

so awful

Stadiums were the best place

untrue.

was always

for

it

was

them.

Billy Idol

a small thing.

The Police were homble - a fucking nightmare.

we

Pops

did Top of the

with them.

didn't

I

week complaining

next

that

we

them, and that

we

He

obviously a punk

looked

said

it

was

I

remember

even know they

were on the stage, but Stewart Copeland was

in

NME the

down our noses

at

wouldn't even acknowledge them.

saying, ‘Fucking nght

Chris Sullivan

to

as many of the earlier ‘proper’ punk a word,

in

bin stediums -

it

elite thing.

I

remember

was. You're just rubbish mate.'

Steve Severin. bass player. Siouxsie and the Banshees

A few

of the

be

but, to

bands did go on

fair,

they were

ended up playing That’s

in

to play in big

all shit.

That

is

stadiums

why they

a Midwestern football

field.

where they belonged, and they got the audience

Stadiums were

We of

were best

seven nights

they deserved.

New

Robert Elms

Paul Simonon

different.

in

We

did them, but

small clubs. That's

in

the

York and Tokyo.

same club

in

Some bands

the

was

it

why we

weird.

did that tour

same

are better

city in

-

stadiums.

Above: Debbie Harry and Blondie

in

concert

As the innovators of punk turned their backs

on the chaos, they found solace order of Kraftwerk and

in the Teutonic

To

me

Kraftwerk were more important than any of the

at least

New Wave

bands. They were

doing new and interesting things.

Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express, both released

were,

the

The electro thing was the people

in

who were

start of electro in Billy's

in at

the start of the Pistols’

- Marco Pirrom, Adam

punk bandwagon and were

sartorially incorrect it.

Electro music

formal

- very

had become Cbns

entirely

Ant,

in

that

rather Teutonic

a statement,

but, as

it

reaction to

disenchanted with the pogo-dancing,

was

B

its

Monochrome

first

The

industrial records.

Idiot

was a landmark record

in

1

977,

fantastic

who

I

liked

played

track ‘Being Boiled' [from their

and very

time,

in its

1

979

influential.

Steve Severin

fill

electro thing ties

style of

dress was almost

synthesizers.

spitting,

what punk

time.

also loved Cabaret Voltaire,

Human League

and

to

I

album Reproduction] was also

The

opposed

Set's early records, and

with us a couple of times. The

they turned against

diametrically

equally radical for

was

important amongst the

and short manicured

were only

1

the other

lot

hair.

The younger element

5 or

1

6

were a

at the time, bit

Billy's

scene

The music would be of punk,

stood

in

London. You'd wear

electronic, with

who'd never been

at the

advanced. Eventually

back

in

shirts

drum machines and

punk bands because

we

of the events rather than at the front ’cause

we moved up and

other kids took our place.

Robert Elms

Zombie' was a fantastic record by Throbbing at

one

point.

Then they made

Oempsey. punk tan

left

the

And so

Sullivan

‘Zyclon

it.

there at the

these people had had their

and regimented, and the

was

was a

Helen Robinson and Steph Raynor

cartoon character that punk had become.

was

it

phenomenon were

Billy Idol. All

neat, very preconceived. Electro

you could get

ton

punk

effect a direct spin-off from

from Acme, Andy Czezowski, Dougie Fields, of the

in effect,

and the production on Trans-Europe Express was absolutely amazing. Later on,

Caroline Coon, journalist

All

electro.,.,.

taftnrt

this

Gristle,

who were as punk as

an electro record.

Punk had

to

go

that way.

something a

bit

more

Mark

•

Urn

nplii

Stephen Mallintfer

ot

Cabaret Voltaire

Taylor, club

It

had become messy,

serious,

though

at

times

it

scruffy

was a

and bit

silly. It

was

time for

too serious.

promoter and early punk ligure

359

Strummer.

ain’t ‘no show*

I

Joe Strummer. guitarist and vocalist, the Clash

Our

first

gig

in

USA was

the

Berkeley Community

at the

Theater [Berkeley, California] with an audience of toe-

do a photo session

to

up with a headline

tapping, hand-clapping, smiling, scrubbed faces, which

for

reminded us that

just

California being laid-back

in

The energy went one way, with Strummer it

But nice

across the huge stage.

bunch

this

good enough.

ain't

Who

burning

America and flexing their

headlining

watch

just

officially, in

Riot ol

left

it

London and

CBS,

label,

and

Our

ignite.

in

hit in

The

the spirit of to take

it

to

power on

tour,

name was good;

tour

a reference to Mickey Gallagher

of

‘Pearl Harbor,

masterstroke worthy of the Pistols.

1979' was a

And

the

UK

all

Clash album

until

Bo

New

John Shearlaw

didn’t

It

even see

roster of

we

in

bands on the

America was bill.

Me and

to get a

Soul duo

Lee Dorsey a

We

at

us,

in

New

York

we had and when we

so

Screaming Jay Hawkins,

lot.

Bonds

Hawkins

Joe hadn't realized

could get these guys to play with

played

good

we had Grandmaster Flash. we liked

also brought over the Undertones 'cause

them and they were

great. At the

gave us these toy guns.

I

end

suppose

of the tour they

that's

what people

to release the first

- they were

Sam and Dave in

shows

And

in later.

with ‘I’m

they

still

So Bored

Screamin' Jay

got away with opening the

with the USA'.

John Shearlaw

Next day

we

beat the fog into Cleveland [Ohio]. Joe

had a raging toothache.

I

was

surprised

more often considering the blackened, in

his

it

didn’t strike

rotting

cancel the gig. Joe said,

show went on been arranged

for

them

Clash's American gigs tour,

We

thought

it

to play support

at the

on some

beginning of

would be a good idea

their for

it

had

of the

second

both bands

to

a wildly

‘I

ain’t

lively

California.

then

Johnny Green,

It

had the

familiar

we had Manhattan 4

tool ol

was

to

"no show" Strummer.' The

crowd and we sussed

the industrial heartland of America

And

stumps

mouth. The dentists did something - but said the

shot would take 24 hours to work. His advice

and

in

the front row, They also had

rock’n'roller

Paul Simonon

quickly

really

played the Palladium

from Belfast give each other.

The Undertones were coming up very

360

fit

in

then, yet the

York with the Clash, with Feargal Sharkey from the

Lee Dorsey and legendary

do

visit

the stage.

record label -

gave the Undertones a leg-up, and the

Undertones singing along

tried to

US

number three by

the second

for the live

range of support acts was fantastic, to the point of being surreal.

Diddley.

Dury's band, the

comment from

for

they were on album

enjoying this tour.

the Clash even

leeway

better.

away as

of the Constitution

the wrangles with their

moguls over there

got to share a tour bus with a rock'n’roll legend called

What we

[of Ian

Blockheads], who'd joined them on keyboards

For despite

it,

explained

Fifth’,

gave Joe plenty

it

was even

the second

'The Clash Take the

it

America, even though

wouldn’t actually release

the legends of rock'n’roll. They were just so up for

American tour

first

They called

on the fundamentals

they deserved every break they got there. Calling the [first]

Camden.

gigs. But taking

first

Strummer especially was so steeped

[Joe]

in

jumpy about a photo shoot

still

album

Europe. Their

whole punk

tour, they'd started the

a rehearsal room

really only

the beginning of the Clash's

and they were

off,

me most was

Mick Houghton, Undertones' press officer

They'd had a whole year their

was

It

would end

more nervous

the Clash were,

and unsure than the Undertones, who were

thing

Om

who had

muscles and developing

in

record

i

But the thing that struck

invasion’.

It

‘Clash and Undertones join forces

how uncomfortable

second American

said Joe.

‘Nice,’

punk

just starting out.

put us on here with

them and they were ready

in

was a huge underground their

push

striving to

in in

The Clash were the one band still

virtue.

of dozeys?’

Johnny Green, tormer road manager, Ihe Clash,

'76

a

and Jones and Simonon working up

into their faces,

into sprints

is

music press.

for the

like

that

was more Clash than

hard and desperate edge. in

our sights.

Our Own

Right:

Andy Warhol and Joe Strummer

(lar right) with Ians

was

Detroit

the most outrageous place

As we drove to

where

grew

I

were

there

in,

more extreme.

up, but

these bombsites there'd be

bus.

We

hell.’

and

these black

all

thought.

I

were the only white people using the saved

think our naivety

I

fires

bit similar

the middle of

In

zooming around on motorbikes.

Hells Angels

Bloody

ever seen.

I've

bombsites, a

like

us.

Paul Simonon

We to

knew New

was

York

afternoon

in

Every

half.

York claimed

would show them. That

we

the Palladium

was focused,

light

New

important.

We

have invented punk.

and a

did a sound-check

every speaker double-

checked, every spare guitar tuned, every drumstick sanded. That night the Clash looked hard and ripped the joint apart. After

chunk

of street

stuffed the sweat-soaked stage gear

I

famous came

into holdalls, the

life

door - there was no lads?’ night in

We

shouted.

I

we had

through the stage

in

54

‘elite only'

here. ‘Studio

shot

a bunch of cabs... that

off in

tonight,

smoothed our way

the keys to the city and

past the drooling, star-spotting crowd. ‘YMCA’ [by

came on and we

Village People]

New

The Clash had cracked

Two American

dance

the

floor.

tours

a year, along with

in

the other

all

back home, would have been enough. The

activity

Clash came back

that the

the amazing material for

1980

crucially, not until

in

fact

between and pulled together

in

London Calling

released as their third album

in

the

week must go down as one of the

hit

York.

4 Mol ol Our Own

Johnny Breen.

all

to backslap. joined by a

had brought

I

the

UK

USA]

[to

be

1979. but,

in

something

in

like

a

achievements

of the greatest

punk years. They were back with producer Guy

Stevens (who worked on one

two years previously)

at

something more driving them on Calling

was

their greatest

Clash demos

of the early

Wessex

Studios, but there that

was

summer. London

statement, culling

the rich

all

American influences along with punk's hard edges and turning the

whole thing

great then and did

come

buying

out

it

in

still

Clash

into

rock'n'roll.

sounds great now.

the States,

it

was

rock

It

sounded

When finally fans who were it

by the cartload.

it

John Shearlaw

The Bonds gig

New

in

had released London

York

came along because we

Calling, a

price of a single album. Just to

double album

be

released Sandinista, a treble album, and

We

financially.

we

clever,

even had to take a cut

in

did us over

it

our

Then Bernie came along and said we were he devised

seven

Bonds said

too

in

this plan to

do seven nights

Tokyo and seven

to

do seven

we had

to close the

many people

in

London.

nights and the

present.

in

We

fire

for the

then

royalties.

lunatics.

New

But

York,

arrived

in

chief basically

show down because there were In an effort to accommodate

those who wanted to see us, we did 22 shows. It was mayhem. The whole street was packed and the all

newspapers said they hadn't seen anything Frank Sinatra. Paul Simonon

We

liked that.

like

it

since

They looked hard and they ripped the joint apart

the Clash cracked

New

York. J Mot of Our Own

Johnny Green

It

do

the

more

companies.

difficult If

they'd

to break

thing

up

there

like

their old age.

the boys.

Mid

Jones ail Joe Strummer performing

in

New

M

•

Above

I

that

if

wasn't prepared

the Sex Pistols

was no reason why,

their next

like

couldn't

These musicians had a

knew

I

lot

Chuck Berry still

the band

showed

persuaded them

all

that they

get anywhere else.

be playing

days,

and

reputation

I

loved

album came out and they

I

offered to

As

I'd

the line

money

Caroline Coon

The Clash (Mick Jones. Paul Simonon. Topper Headon and Joe Slrummer)

to

do whatever

if

I

be

stepped

should go to America.

known them

To

in.

all

I'd

I

in

and

said this

that they could never

well since the early

temporarily. After

because

musicians would define music wasn't going to happen

They would have the freedom

out of proportion,

manage them

was on

toured America, they would never have to worry about again.

artists to

signs of breaking up, with minor

disagreements getting

would give them experience as a band

and the

to say

a good position for

is

see them destroyed by egos would have been such a waste.

As

and deal with the big record

and other great musicians, the Clash in

rather than

been more determined, they could have

see the Clash break up

Damned. To me

bands

their

taken them to the next stage of success. to

they wanted, which

might have been subconscious, but both Bernie and

Malcolm were prepared

...

all,

my

said this generation of

for the next

decade, which

the bands broke up.

363

Hip-hop is black

punk rock. Don

Letts,

film-maker and former OJ

Hip-hop per se came out of the Sugar protagonists had

Hill

New

area of

York and, just

musical experience but just went for

little

it.

instruments, so they used decks, cannibalizing other records, cutting

them

make

to

their

own brand new

form of music. At the

were very much influenced by punk. they could relate to anti-establishment.

it.

As

It

was

happening

all

in

New

with dub, they rapped over the records, but

and although the music was very party-orientated

become

very confrontational, Public

was so

Again, the music

added the

DMC

Enemy and Run

Bob

dog

he completely broke up

his studio, flooded

ducks quacking away

the studio and he

He

I

to

they'd Dennis

in

New

see Lee Perry

go back

it

and

was

being prime examples.

the end of an era, so

filled

to

New

York.

much so

up with ducks. There were

it

drew crosses

all

in

influential

to England to try to catch that

Hip-hop

much about

very

story

is

that

he

all

it.

feelings.

not sung,

It's

it's

could see a

We

If

Jamaicans

to the

developed from toasters

like

used

all

Last Poets could not have evolved

needed America

to

develop

like

it

in

to

Lee Perry could do.

shouted. Like punk,

it’s

another

[live

voice-over].

Rap

between

and punk when

early rap

us, but the

Yanks

moved on

When punk was

Black English kids never

really listened to

and took from everywhere. That's why black

to the

same degree

ending, black music

out of America. For

me

fit Fm« Freddy ° Wove, led to

it

was

right:

very

that in

we

Bonds

played

didn't really get

in

New

York.

it... at all.

they started out with hip-hop,

it

was

very party-down

hip-hop and dub are closer because hip-hop sort of clearer there.

is

lyrics,

Viv

and punk never had

was spoken and

toasters spoke,

The connection was also for their

own

that

use.

Goldman

is

punk scene

certainly parallel to the

pretty well accepted, but

it

seems

like

rap

is

in

the black league.

even more mainstream

I

believe punk

America now.

in

Chris Stein, guitarist Blondie

was never really a Beastie Boy fan. Their music was good and could understand was a bit like being a kid at school. It felt like you were having parties and wrecking the place when your parents were out. I

I

it,

it

Dennis Morris

for

well out of

it.

Again the people

followed each form at the outset were the same. They were the people

something new. Malcolm McLaren certainly saw the

who

looked

similarities.

Chris Sullivan

anything other than reggae; they didn't touch rock. Black Americans were different. They listened to everything

People suddenly

of course, the Last Poets, but the rap of the

hip-hop without toasting and reggae. But hip-hop

did.

cool.

Then

Bronx was getting bigger, and they brought with

U-Roy and,

T, it's

lepers. Then,

stuff.

The Beastie Boys mixed the two genres and did very

of

Mr

cool for

it’s

were seen as

real.

them massive sound systems, the music and the toasting

Offttiti

of links

chanted or rapped, so the lineage

who

really

lot

had Grandmaster Flash supporting

The rap scene was

Hilly Kristal

The movement

We

town had gold and

the forefront.

out.

Anyway,

with the scratch.

that only

these

was hanging

out of Jamaica. They

do some demos

Lee Perry thing

hardcore, tough and

It's

that.

kid in

but

is

was as simple as

was

every black kid

later,

because they had seen Mr T on

people from working-class communities were seizing culture

Moms

sort of street music.

0 years

Paul Simonon

that

moved

over the place and

The

come

musicians to

Jamaica, even McCartney, to

1

full.

York and started scratching, so he's been recognized as inventing

him as one of the most

rate

go

and everything and went

his family

left

around

in

it

weird. Then,

here, whatever,

Mr T appeared and every

I

Perry [an eccentric Jamaican record producer]

Marley died. Lee Perry said he knew

was

at

that. In fact,

after

It

I

were

When came from Lee

Don

if

one lock

essential

Chris Sullivan

Hip-hop, parody or scratch

The A-Team).

[in

myself and

as

off,

Dennis Morris

did eventually

it

me

Letts

like

was urban and

at the start,

different but the ethic existed in

television

York at the time and it

at

having one side shaved

and scratching

scratching and mixing. They wore the studded wristbands, leather trousers and collars,

people used to look

its

DJs and rappers

start the

talked a language they could understand,

It

punk,

like

They had no musical

British

American black music did from

Britain just didn't

difficult.

Coming from

Grandmaster Flash; the Beastie Boys: Run

BMC

music never that period.

go anywhere. Everything came the punk movement, black

and Bussell Symonds (with long hair)

ol

Del

Jam

Malcolm McLaren got involved with those American kids over and made a mint out bought a length

of

rope and

some

office, in like six foot lengths, to

That’s pure Colonel Parker.

‘You can

sell

these

He

at the gig.'

girls

who used to skip: he brought all these He went to a ship chandler's shop and

of that.

red gaffer tape, and he had us cutting

make skipping ropes

to sell at the gigs.

just couldn’t let the opportunity

Any excuse

to

make a

go

to

it

up

in

the

‘Double Dutch'.

make some money:

shilling.

Jock Scott

365

explode and fragment and metamorphose into lots of different musical styles. It was only in New York that punk did what it was meant to do

—

Stephen Colegrave

was

Lydia Lunch

think that says

I

New

in

York that

punk

totally

in

it

momkered band Teenage Jesus and

the fantastically

all really.

She was signed

was saying

to

The band was a mad mix

anything.

By the end

the Jerks.

Ze Records, which was the

only label

of everything, with a

saw them

down

to a

at

of '78 the

inception,

reverted to a

the Vortex and

I

just thought they

minimum. They were so

off

were

fantastic. Everything

the wall. The whole

was taken

more '50s-inspired

was a

New

big part of that

York scene.

as the singing pastry chef. His music

his start

band were characters.

Jayne County was maybe the only finish

I

was a

think

he was Austrian, and he got

mixture of opera

and

on both sides

artist

who managed

of the Atlantic

to

see the whole thing through

and remain

played

at the

Can you

Reading bill

believe that?

throwing bottles, so over the eye.

that sort of thing.

Jayne County

366

In

about '79 they moved to

moved and

New

became

York and

the

inspiring a plethora of

such as the Stray Cats.

Chris Sullivan

play,

it

didn't matter, they

the attitude. These are people

all

mass murderers.

moved

hip.

Festival

All

these

1977] and

[in

and went on

in

real

we threw them It

was

awful.

it

was

awful.

rock types were

in

were the only

only

managed

to

mud and stones and

do three numbers, so

John Peel was the DJ and he played my song

Me Baby. Baby New York.

Fuck Off

The

the audience. They started

back. Then they threw

We

We

between Hawkwind and the Doobie Brothers.

crazy and said, 'You fucking hippie bastards! You narrow-minded pricks!' and

in

with Ian Hunter of Mott the

on, as

It

many

was did

who

looked

fantastic but very funny. They'd

when

it

were great and they looked good

much more all

likely to

been hardcore

be successful

early punk, then

got turned sour, into rockabilly.

Robert Elms

punk band on the

Fuck

the bands went after playing. You'd see

electro.

Chris Sullivan

back

of these

all

Leee Childers was the Rockats' manager. Jayne County would often duet

Although the Rockats couldn’t

from start to

there anywhere near

movers and shakers

Probably the most apparent of

Banshees mixing

and had

to

vibe.

who were

of the so-called

lot

all

with Levi Dexter, the singer.

Krell

hit

A

Speakeasy, which was the club where

rockabilly outfits,

got

thing, for those

the water.

toast of the town, shagging everything that

Klaus Nomi

I

in

the Heartbreakers, the Pistols and the Hoople...

Steve Severin

Gene

whole punk

was dead

manifestations were Levi and the Rockats. They played a residency at the

sensibility.

Chris Sullivan

I

its

right to the end.

By the end

‘If

of

I

I

went

all

You Don't Want

1979

I

was

first

time the Rockats ever played they looked good. Levi

and dancing, Smutty was playing wasn't even plugged the wings

in

this kind of upright

'cause he couldn’t

and you couldn't see

him.

play,

was

bass shaped

and Dibbs was so

out front singing off tune like

a banana which

terrified that

They were making a complete mess

of

it,

he hid

in

then Johnny

Thunders suddenly jumped on the stage, grabbed a guitar and started playing one Chuck Berry song after another, forcing them to join

the medley he handed the guitar back to

be a lesson

to you.

You can't make a

in.

The audience went

Spudhead then turned

fool of yourself

band remembered those words and began

to

crazy. At the

to Levi

and

end

of

said, ‘Let that

as long as you’re on the

stage.'

The

leam to play from that point on.

Leee Childers

Above: Levi ol Die Rockats and Jayne County • Opposite: Lydia Lunch (top); Smutty ol the Rockats (bottom

left);

Klaus Nomi (bottom right)

People

look

just

the films

at

not punk,

that’s

If

was a huge inspiration on the whole punk Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble.

forget, but Divine

don’t

I

know what

thing...

_

is

|

l

-

psychobilly schlock horror

Sci-fi

that’s the

After Generation X,

Cramps.

when

I

The Lounge Lizards were

formed Sigue Sigue

Sputnik, our main influences were Suicide and the

Frank Kelly

Cramps. The Cramps played

New

York very

early.

Our accountant,

I

rock'n'roll

loved them because they were great

groups. Suicide were extraordinary. Here

punk. They played jazz

in

in

many ways

not at

(

all

the style of Ornette

1

Coleman and Thelonius Monk, and dressed in late '50s suits. But there was something about them

I'

!

Tom

be

Holiday, auditioned to

Interior (their vocalist]

some 25

a Punk Magazine benefit backstage. Daniels

his hand,

in

whiskey.

were out

He was

We

their

1

I

They were

I

think they

were the most

incredibly innovative group.

his teeth with the

The Cramps played a

times.

to play with the Clash.

with a bottle of Jack

and he was brushing

of business by 77.

it

remember meeting Lux

down

never got to write about them because

CBGB's. saw them many

was a group using technology to play rock’n’roll, and was very visionary of Mick Jones to bring them over

met Lux

I

years ago. They played for

77.

in

kneeling

drummer, and

Tony

image

I

I

music with a

lot in

of pop,

punk and ‘60s movie

camp thrown in. They played the late 70s musical evolution.

an

of

real... which is

a

lot

I

realized

Cramps

had such great

right

style,

whole thing was

like

from the beginning. They just

a B-movie

come

to

life.

loads going on with them, and they'd taken extremes, which

is

well.

mom

New

York went

Ville is just in

symptomatic

all

Omne

like

off in is

hundreds

of

in

punk

jazz,

which was a

The

totally

first

album

York. Jim Fourrat, the club's owner,

bother playing

it.

Robert Elms

how punk Devo were a bunch

first

Mink de

Ville

had brought

a piano at great expense, and they didn’t even

They did

in

Ville •

was

Stephen Colegrave

that

of crazy

guys from Akron, Ohio.

song ‘Mongoloid’. Devo were

just crazy.

Krall

album wasn't a punk record

anything but attitude.

it's

Cramps: Mink De

It

legitimate place for the music to go.

should have developed.

That

to

always important.

• flotlom. let! to right: Lydia Lunch: Poison Ivy ol the

anarchic.

Gene

There was it

many ways

1979. They ignored the formula

punk had aquired and went

It’s

kind of latino sou, but

great.

Robert Elms

picture

of the

The

Steve Severin

Opposite

De

directions. That total nonconformity

and they were funny as

r

I

Willy

that

scary.

Dunn, senior editor. Esquire magazine

loved the

is

not a musical style.

New

their sleazy rockabilly

more

what punk

was superb, and John Lurie was a great front man. remember we went to see them at Danceteria in

a cartoon, but they were

thought

is

\

The B-52's were a mix

lot at

great.

just required a lot of dedication, then

they were for Bill

first

that

The Lounge Lizards were superb. They were very

Chris Sullivan

actually like that. At

and

James

important part

like

i

attitude,

- an attitude and

Chris Sullivan

we

John Holmstrom

They sounded and looked

was punk. They were anarchic and had an

that

Above: The B-52's and John Lurie ol the Lounge Lizards

I

It’s

nice to see an act

whose audience

can't relate

to them. Leonard Cohen

in

Hock Confidential

369

James White and the Blacks

were the personification They were not a punk hand and did not look punkv

370

at

all,

and that

is

of the

the point. The attitude

was

punk

ethic.

there in abundance, cuaumi

lames was

really into old-school

He had

jazz.

all

those old records

-

and a saxophone teacher. He wanted to lie Ornette Coleman, although he would never admit or

In

1

maybe he would.

979

was a

there

was

Jim

Fourrat. writer

that brilliant rebirth of the

New

and nightclub owner

York art scene, with the Lydia Lunches and the James Whites -

great scene, really underrated and under-documented.

A

lot

of the

music on the Ze record

Michael Zhilka, such as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and James White and the Blacks, great album, and that

is truly

it.

label,

fantastic. Off

is

it

owned by White

is

a

punk. They were a band that could play.

Robert Elms

really important. He started as part of what was called No Wave by playing at Max’s Kansas City. was Anya Phillips, who started the Mudd Club, and he was a big part of that whole New York postpunk fragmentation. He made an album on Ze Records, Off White, under the name James White and the Blacks, which was pivotal to say the least. It can only be described as punk funk, and was a massive inspiration to many, including me, on both sides of the Atlantic. He dressed in '60s sharkskin suits and, for a while, was the

James White was His girlfriend

personification of

where punk should have gone.

Chris Sullivan

They were kind of interesting. side of

wasn’t really into the jazzy

James White, kind

like

it,

I

of heroin jazz.

StevE Severn

It

is

interesting that the

punk mantle should return

to

New

York with James

White carrying the torch. The New York scene was never blown out of all proportion, never reached the tabloids like the UK scene, so it was allowed to

grow and develop. James White played anarchic

funk, punk, jazz

renditions of songs such as Heatwave’ by Marilyn Monroe, and filled

it

with

scratchy guitars, wailing alto sax and throbbing bass. He realized that the

essence of any musical movement and

attract a

new audience.

In

is fusion: that’s

England punk was

set formula that had been hastily assembled

no one, apart from the Clash, had in ’79 the

scene was thriving

And even though entertained

it

all its

some

really taken

in all directions

it

-

the only

full

of

it

can grow to a

three years before, and

anywhere art,

way

bands adhering

else. In

New

York

music, clothing, clubs...

was very much divorced from punk as such,

it still

best elements.

Chris Sullivan

371

The Mudd Club was the quintessential and the centre of the art, fashion and I

opened the Mudd Club.

raising

a

some money

benefit,

we

for

figured we'd

the rock stars would

We

were

1

3 October

arrested for

The media

killing

tried to

1

ways

show up from 978, which

the scene at

was

Nancy. The place

descend and

reaction to the

of

party afterwards.

all

Club which,

and we could

Club Hollywood on

the day after Sid

was

was jam-packed.

interview everybody

official first

but

I'd

it

for

at that point, hadn't

opening was

time

But the best part of the night was the

arranged

opened

still

at the

Mudd

even got a name, and the

a few weeks away. This

to the public.

we had opened

an open bar

It

was a

was

SoHo Weekly News and John Holmstrom

it

disastrous night,

was packed from

Anya with

and Diego Cortez took a punk club

sensibilities. [The

White Street.

the

that night on.

.

and a door

Mudd

Anya

space] was

totally falling

front. was way - nobody had even heard of

apart, but they put velvet

ball in

[Phillips]

punk

also totally out of the

the

the club. The place floundered for

about three or four months, then there was a wnte-up

-

they wanted to talk to the real punk rockers and get their

372

killing.

do

rather than

do an awards show and then

charge money. The event was held Friday

trying to find

Punk Magazine and,

ropes outside the

Phillips insisted they

policy...

It

have a disco

Steve [Maas, owner of the

Club] would be watching the door from his office

through a surveillance camera and he would

on the walkie-talkie and say ‘No black

call

leather',

us

which

downtown underground nightclub, music scenes in New York. was absurd, grill

or ‘American passports

him about exceptions.

said,

‘No

fat

Once he

only'.

called

Then we'd

down and

people, unless they're famous,

Meatloaf, but charge them triple

and

tell

Chi Chi or Gennaro vetting the queue quite severely.

Chi Chi was a rather glamorous blonde with a fine

sarcasm, and Gennaro was a muscular

like

them

either

why.'

the

Boroughs who, although

Gennaro's

Chi Chi Valenti, club promoter, in Platinum Blonde

speciality

they were invincible.

You'd get to the door of the all

Mudd Club and

there’d

be

these bridge and tunnel [suburban] types clamouring to

get

Abo* *

in,

but thank

God

they never did because you had

the Waller Sledding Band, with Debbie Harry guesimg on drums *

Inset-.

Anya

Phillips

was

gay, didn't look

Once

inside,

it

was

York.

of the best nightclubs I've ever

been

in

It

was

Billy Idol.

living in

New

York at that time, and so

People were there

for different reasons.

at

went

all.

As a

was

to.

John Lydon was

John was escaping the dramas of the court case.

pair,

the quintessential

New

Chris Sullivan

it

...

bloke from

the one-line put-down.

nightclub that could only exist

- one

Italian

line in

.

fantastic

off to

a while too.

be a

When

we hooked up city in the

'em.

We

star, I

with

Billy

and Malcolm McLaren was there

first all

the expats.

It

was probably

the only

world that would take the Banshees, and

all

went

to the

for

went there with the Banshees,

Mudd,

it

loved

of course.

Steve Severin

373

Studio 54 received all

the press attention,

but the

Mudd was

the real McCoy. Chris Sullivan

We

all

went

to the

who'd moved

to

Mudd.

New

All of

the onginal British punks

York went there -

McLaren, the Rockats.

.

All

the people

CBGB's scene

- Richard

Cramps - went

there too. and even the people

left

Hell,

the

over from the days of Max's.

where both the

New

It

Dead Boys,

was

Malcolm

Billy Idol,

who were on

the

the

who were was

great. That

York and English scene

really gelled.

Leee Childers

One

of the

clientele.

It

most amazing things about the Mudd was the

was

there that

I

met William Burroughs,

Allen

Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson, John Cale, Johnny

Thunders, Rick James, Diana Vreeland. and the Haring and Francesco Clemente.

On

any

night,

artists Keith

even on a

Sunday, you might see Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Gregory

Corso and Andy Warhol. You

don’t find such a mix of

people frequenting one establishment that often. Studio 54 received

374

AIiiwb left lop lo bottom: Sieve

Maas and

friend;

Andy Warhol and Wiliam Burroughs; (clockwise ^rom lop

left)

all

Arthur Ferlinghetti, Gregory de Corso, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs Top nghi: William Burroughs reading his work at the

the press attention, but the

Mudd

Mudd was

Club, watched by Allen Ginsberg and unidentified fan •

Near

the real

left Grajory

de Corso

McCoy.

It

was where your clued-up New

Yorker hung out.

You'd see punks, rockabillies, drag queens, businessmen, rock stars

and

strippers.

The music, as supplied by Anita Sarko, was

an eclectic mix of James Brown, Iggy Pop, Doris Day, the B-52's,

James White and

the Blacks, as well as a pot-pourri of '60s soul,

Mudd

'60s garage bands and the Ramones. The

rockabilly,

showcased

quite

a superb collection of

and the Rockats, the Brides

bands.

live

saw

I

Lounge

of Funkenstein, the

also

Levi

Lizards

and Robert Gordon. The Mudd was a complete across-theboard mix of people, music and

enormously

and

style,

Wag

the creation of the

in

influenced

it

Club

me

London.

in

Chris Sullivan

Mudd

If

you knew about the

if

you were press, you were no better than anyone

Club, you were really cool, and else.

Once you were in, you felt like you were part of something that was really special. Now there is no underground. Everything

routinely co-opted

is

and turned

Michael Muslo, New York's premier nightlife reporter,

in

didn't like the artists’ stuff... just thought

I

it

I

then there were the yuppies and people

a

lot of girls in

it

down

Mudd

the alley from the

a

Gap

was

bad.

into

ad.

Platinum Blonde

But

in suits.

And fucked

I

Club, so you can't put

too much.

Legs McNeil

At that time art

was

and Mudd was

major.

the subtext of clubs,

Anya invented

which began with

nightlife,

was

clubs, art

in

new

this

Mudd and

kind of

turned into Tier Three,

which became Area, which became Jackie 60. Keith Haring's first

job

was as

first

met

at

point Fred Schneider [of the B-52's] Chi Chi Valenti

in

on

earth.

On

bit of

the next floor

was

Keith Haring

I

one

at

plastic

-

a lounge area with a bar at

the curator for a while.

sort of

the worst

back downstairs,

at the

was Steve Maas's

made

there of Elizabethan-style clothing

and

982. Keith

1

worked the coat-check.

really rather scruffy, with

There was a stage

and upstairs there was a the back.

in

Mudd, and

Platinum Blonde

The Mudd Club was toilets

Mudd

curator of the gallery at

and Jean Michel [Basquiat]

art gallery.

saw an

I

exhibition

out of silver

space-age Elizabethan... as

far

foil

as

could gather. Steve Maas was rather an odd fellow.

invited

people up

to his gallery

-

it

was

like

He

a sanctuary.

Chris Sullivan

The scene was adult.

starting to get arty.

People seemed more

Things had definitely changed after Nancy was

murdered. There was a

had white

shit

before, you'd

lot

of cocaine

hanging out of

their

around - everybody

noses. Normally, years

pass out about 3 or 4 a.m. from the

when you had

cocaine, you didn't pass out

next day. Steve

Maas always had

hang out

Mudd Club and

at the

too

much

until

drink, but

noon the

cocaine. You'd

then go over to Steve's

house, do more cocaine and drink more beer. The next thing

you knew,

it

would be noon and you'd be

horrible feeling.

You'd I

lost

think,

The sun would be

leaving.

out, but

it

was

It

was

a

too bright.

'Oh God, where are my sunglasses? Have

another fucking pair of sunglasses?' That's

was then - too

how

it

fucking bright.

Legs McNeil

Wore

Billy Idol

and kts girllnend. Perry

Lister, in

New

York

375

THE BEST OF PUNK...

The best thing was ‘God Save the Queen', one

of the best things

ever heard, and

I’d

The best thing was the sense

it

wasn’t allowed to be number one. Stevenson

Nils

The best

punk was hanging out with

thing about

and everybody, and the changing the face

feeling that

we were

music and standing up

of

those incredible people

all

part of

like

Siouxsie

you didn't have

liked the feeling that it

a try?

was

It

far,

He

though.

be some guitar god

to

turned into

listen to ‘I

me

anyway.' Kurt

hate myself and

I

want

to get

up on stage.

nice - that sense of

is

Why

What

I

about the fashion was that

liked

It

enabled people to

it

wasn't gay,

it

definitely right at the beginning,

fence to stand. That was

really exciting

look around the stage covered

and one

Cobain took the whole thing

to

go

for

a

it’s

was

It

gay or

bit

just it's

a

bit

it

moment and

lived for the

just

It

had no generation, no

exposed

itself in front of

that wasn't

- the

It

was

in

when people

because

broken glass.

it

Andy Czezowski

didn't

know what

side of the

was dangerous. We'd do shows and

We

a tense atmosphere,

think the best thing

had one part

we were

of the

crowd

the middle of

in

it

with us

and

it

oppressed and simple as

was

that

felt like

it

complete freedom.

stifled. All

think the best thing of

succeed...

places where there

pavement. You know,

I

of

was something going on unknown in

a band

if

to the

When

it

I

is,

all

the

could be a musician or a

world above the

punk hadn't happened.

was

Fuck, just

to say.

that.'

do

the idea that you could

more

likely

put on a club

first

‘They have people to do

wonder, excitement and inspiration from going to these

wouldn't have been

influenced people right

do

It

it.'

was as

Paul Cook

I

a sense

needed was people

It

anything - they were so

was

best.

just

it

try

that.

the more extreme

The best was

real

you.

die.'

Simonon

little

to

You wore whatever you wanted.

forethought:

I

The best was

Paul

wasn't straight.

my God.

across the board. Before punk, people were scared to

exciting

and

feel free

also another one of the best things about punk.

loved the sheer crazy brazenness of the thing.

I

Tm

Ounn

Bill

Goldman

this or that.'

to the record industry.

also quite self-deprecating, which

and crap and useless, but

ugly

Viv

of possibility.

Dub was

Alan Jones

not give

too

to follow their star.

everything thrown together. You never thought, ‘Oh,

something that was actually

Jayne County

I

it,

Punk

anything.

you’re going to have fun with in

told

a warehouse,

I

Whatever it

remember my

and

it

mum

it

just

is,

and

might

saying to me,

you that you could be those people, that you

writer.

Robert Elms

Suggs

Punk said I

thought

it

was

the

shop Sex, along with the people around

goes, total decadence, breaking

down taboos and

putting

it,

that

promoted anything

them more

Marco

‘I

don't care about

polluting the

That

is

Don

thing, writing your

better than a

own

rules, living

bad idea perfected -

I

still

outside the law, and that a

live

by

all

that shit.

Hip-hop

good idea attempted is

was

which

is

anarchy as

well.

like

it.

they can fuck

off.

career,

river. I'm just

all

the fun everybody had. Everyone

was

saying.

don't care about marching the streets to stop ships

I

going to a club to have a few drinks and enjoy

myself.'

the best thing.

artists, artists

was

the best.

My mother always used

are the most important things

changing, not your academics, but

The best thing was the

that really felt possible.

artists.

in

to

tell

me

that society

society, right, culture, things

And Malcolm was an

artist.

The best thing about

creativity

and the positive effects

it

had on the future

Tony James

Legs McNeil

376

people don't

Helen Wellington Uoyd

Clive Linger

Steve Jones

if

John Holmstrom

needs

You could do anything, and

my

For me. Malcolm McLaren

herself,

and

yourself,

black punk rock.

Letts

Everyone was encouraged to be completely himself or

in

The best thing was the music and

really

think about things.

Pirruni

The DIY

have confidence

into the

mainstream. There had never been provocative clothes before, or clothes that

changed the way you

to

Joe Corre

it

for

me was

that

we

put our mark on history.

of rock’n'roll.

THE WORST OF PUNK...

The worst thing about punk

me was

for

There were a

Sid Vicious dying. That's the ultimate tragedy.

to pick

Alan Jones

lot

of fights.

was

It

very violent.

These guys coming

on the punks because they took the anarchy thing

in

from

literally, like

Queens would

everyone else

look

did.

Legs McNeil

The worst thing hangover

me was

for

came

that

after

the complete misinterpretation of punk and the massive

it.

I

Kevin Rowland

The

very worst thing

cartoon punks.

.

.

I

was

the cliched nature of the whole thing.

remember some TV

personalities did a

down

about Mohican-haired trendsetters walking

summed

it

up

for

‘Part

Time Punks’

the Kings Road, which pretty

Paul

The worst thing

was

think the worst thing

marketed again,

enthusiasm was watered down, which was a shame, as

at

possible.

Simonon

that kids I

initial

seemed

me.

Dunn

Bill

that the

the time everything

much

a worst thing.

Stevenson

The worst was

Kenny Everett punks, Giles

song called

was

don’t think there

Nils

for the

the

way

second

that

it

was

time, flogging

and then

quickly sort of assimilated, it

off

on the high

think

I

wanted

was

be

to

Nancy and

the deaths of Sid and

like Sid,

their glorification

- the fact

taking drugs.

John Holmstrom

street.

The worst thing

Jock Scott

that

is

it

actually lasted too long.

Chris Duffy

I

hated

all

that fucking spitting.

I

despised

it.

Everybody used

Jayne County

started

The worst thing was

that

it

became

didn’t last very long.

Steve Jones

Once it

be communal and co-operative

to

coming round and signing people

up.

It

until

the big record companies

was sad

because everybody

after that

very competitive.

Chris Stein

the

name was slapped on and

weren't supposed

to.

So

it

was

it

became mainstream, punk became

the very thing

very short-lived.

Clive Langer

The worst thing about punk was very quickly,

when

that revelled

in

it

was meant

change,

it

that to

it

was uninformed and became

be the complete opposite. Instead

became a

thing that

was scared

of

conservative very, of being a thing

it.

Robert Elms

I

think

it

was

being a punk hit,

late '77

when punk

who

started attracting these kinds of people

thought

was about lobbing a bottle into the audience and not caring who's head someone and shoving a Stanley knife into them. was just

or going up behind

it

It

getting really kind of stupid.

The worst was running I

didn’t think they'd

to catch a train,

be throwing

and the

girls

would chase

after

Joey and Johnny.

bottles at us, but they were.

Legs McNeil

Nigel Wingrove

The worst The worst

bit

around

it

for

me was

all

the violence

and the paranoia, the heaviness

of

it

all.

People foget that now. Paul

thing

Viv

the laddism.

It

was

very hard, chauvinistic

and

sexist,

even though

liberation.

Goldman

Cook

The worse thing

home in a leather T-shirt. had these big holes in and the weather was so cold that my nipples were going numb. remember being at the Bristol services for about eight hours. That was the worst thing. just wished that the fashion

The worst

had invented something warmer.

Legs McNeil

I

was

punk encouraged

hated having to hitchhike

It

it

is

that old

punks become

fat

and

nostalgic.

I

should know -

I

married one.

Hilary Colegrave

I

I

thing

was

finding out you couldn't just

do

anything.

Ctins Sullivan

The worst thing was going somewhere like Italy in 1980 and all these blokes with 2-foot spikes gobbing at you years

after the event.

377

Punk brought It

rock’n’roll

back to

its roots.

brought the rebelliousness

and anti-establishment attitude back to music.

When

it’s

that’s Jayne County

378

loud and snotty,

when

it’s

at its best.

THE LEGACY OF PUNK

The legacy

is

the fuckin' music industry. There

was a

huge response from kids, who went out and formed bands - 15,000 of them - and made records: that's the legacy.

It’s all

There have been other music genres since then, but what's

happened

designers.

rock’n'roll it

scene

set the

now.

It

for

and we are

still

feeling the reverberations of

changed the music

It

was a complete

thing, a

and nothing since then has been

a greater revolution within

been a

either

None has been a complete subculture

it.

writers, intellectuals, poets, film-makers

Jock Scott

Punk

punk has

that everything since

soundtrack or a dance, or a fashion that’s been influenced by

those records.

is

Don

with

its

own

Before punk, rock musicians had been people

were,

up on stage, or clothes designers -

was your peers and

it

it

at

was

just like you,

from the same council estates, doing extraordinary things.

Punk had

told

you that you could be those people, and

that’s the legacy for

complete subculture,

am

Finklestein

the legacy.

me.

dance music

the rave, trance and

that

way

unite globally through the spirit of

music and dance.

Punk took

it

upon

to say no,

itself

things that way, you don't need

Whatever

it

is

you want

paint a picture, or rave

own

do -

to

you don't have

and the

this, that

was

do

other.

play music, write a book,

and scream - you can do

way. That’s what punk

to

all

it

your

about.

has

what

of like the beatnik

just

we

together and do

go and do

like,

it,

it.

it.

If

If

you've got a good

you believe

see what happens.

in

it,

We

Nils

all

the

money

out of

it

it,

the middle

and the upper class

can do

you know, and there's not many people

Punk was a movement which had

Paul Durden

make itself.

itself violent

is

me

the quote about in

from

the world are Nat

and two speed dealers'

it

was

the ‘two fingers

in

the

Lee Lewis - they were

all

who were making

people

air’

attitude that broke

Gene

the barriers... Elvis Presley,

Vincent, Jerry

punks. They were young

statements of

their

own.

by

its

to hate

itself,

own ethos - so

which

it

an alternative way of looking

is

is still

was

followed by a very regular

at

music,

people today. Before

lot of

and organized. Song think

I

it

allowed

people to realize they could make music however they

wanted

to.

how

think

I

boring

we had it

was

a

lot to

do with

that.

People

before.

Sieve Jones

Stevenson

speak Anarchy was the word

really,

because

it

became

anarchy,

which it

had

Well,

it's

survived.

You can

and there was no answer.

seemed

to

Clive Longer

about

it.

Patti

had a

definite voice...

The

to

think

down

forget

it.

Clnre linger

had

me

structures were always the same.

The working class are passionate about

doing that these days...

to fuck

I

punk,

class are conscientious about

go and fucking do

movement.

Nal Finklestein

make

up and

for

Paul Durden

that different cultures

Goldman

idea, just

punk

of

The legacy

Pull yourself

just got a lot

Paul Durden

taken over the world - the whole

Vhr

starting to It

Nat Finklestein

The punk movement was kind is

it.

Bob Gruen

The legacy

Letts

Robert Elms

The legacy

demanded

a

that

Then suddenly there you

was blokes

The hippies were

but the punks

this,

lot

question authority with a

that complete.

Dempsey

did.

confrontational attitude.

develop

now

music. People

Lou Reed: The three worst people I

something French people

same

of the

more aggressive.

and fashion

industry.

Tony James

distance,

Without the legacy of punk there would have been a

ramifications

The wool

can't

Paul Durden

in

attitudes are

still

being

be pulled over people’s eyes as

before; they have harder,

and the

become more aware.

It's

the sense that they are not easily

it

felt

today.

was

made people pushed around.

be

it

still

seems

you're a

join

and

punk bands. There

that's what's great

Smith had a definite voice; Richard Hell

of view. Take, say, a

play the bass

still

lots of voices,

in

like

1

Punk was 3-year-old

lots of different points girl,

who can

learn to

bedroom and put together a song: a valid way to express yourself when

her

kid.

Legs McNeil

379

The word were

'punk'

seemed

to

because most

fit

Considering the small amount of time punk

of the kids

and against convention.

rebellious, anti-establishment

around,

has

it

bands and

Hilly Kristal

in

Punk was the

When we clear:

it

set

was

up

like,

Adam and

the Ants the legacy

became

what do you want? Do you want

be

to

thrown Marco

at

you by 10,000

little

in

a

lot

analysed then, but everything

I

movement

great teen

last

in

of is

think

I

against an older

don't think

left

ways nothing was

do

it

when

will

never get too

now knows

that there

criticized real

the

politically

It

I

people and made them aware of what the

world was

like.

It

marked a decline

monarch and the government.

Royal Family and politicians

like

which we're

in

the

We

in

the

power

of

don't look at the

punk

The

did.

sensibility of

same way.

We

are

punks.

a

Remember,

down

Paul Durden

Suggs

bit like

in

them together

manage

to

Americans reclaimed the

they’ve survived a war, except radical

places

the road

all

changes

night just for having

initiative

in

our

own

Famous Supreme Team.

tough English punk

girl

called Blue

company

to

make

OK. You could

it

scene

for

the old

like all

a greater revolution

in

rock’n’

punk has

in

in their

I

filtered into everything.

wrestling

don’t think

CBGB's. going to

in

I

think

come

it

it's

-

just

it’s

true!

came

something

to the surface

It's

There are

something

from the intrinsic

and

it

one way or another.

Chris Stein

popular culture.

dyed

There are two phrases which sum up the legacy: one 'No'

hair.

inimitable style,

and the other

is

‘Fuck

is

off.

Pirrcni

and squeezed the

last dying breaths out

with rap. Stealing the remnants of the past and irreverently pasting

make something new was as punk as you could

the World’s

in

Wigan you'd get chased up and

like

a group without having a manager,

feeling the reverberations of today.

still

the culture.

was always

Marco

we’d repackaged and redefined American punk

of rock'n’roll, the

to

It's

in

musicians

British

I

case they survived

changed the

certainly

ft

society.

Tony James

now when meet people who were

funny

It's

We

really did.

bloated or drug addicts, just

set the

even elements of punk

punk has had a tremendous impact on

culture.

society, but in

it

a bunch of young people

along and shake things up again, just

think

no longer deferential.

fitter

380

aware.

it

industry,

bam cades and change

course everybody sold out. They

yourself. Yes, of

it

roll,

Jayne County

punk made people more

changed

became nch and

behind a music industry which

come

it

without having a record

changing things.

might just be another time

analysed now.

could storm the

idea that you could be

there

think

we

groups, but

Steven Severin

I

punk changed the music

thought

people's general attitude towards things.

safe and secure again because that

actually

Chris Duffy

It

is

was

the areas of fashion,

girls?

Pirroni

The difference

in

generation, and since then nothing has been as powerful

as that

spat on by a thousand punks or do you want roses

a huge legacy

left

get. So. at the

beginning of the '80s,

I

went

to

New

York

The Centre Of that Scene W3S alSO 3 Club named, by the

who

ran

it,

the Roxy

Nils

Stevenson

Opposite: Supermodel Gisele brings punk op to date, wearing a Sid Yicioos T-shirt

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