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AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EMERGENCE OF THE ANARCHO-PUNK SCENE OF THE 1980s M. DINES Ph. D. Thesis 2004 AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EMERGENCE OF THE ANARCHO-PUNK SCENE OF THE 1980s Michael DINES ARICAS School of Media, Music & Performance University of Salford, Salford, UK Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, October 2004 II THESIS CONTAINS VIDEO CD DVD CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER ONE THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SUBVERSIVE: ANARCHIST THEORY AND THE BRITISH PUNK ROCK SCENE OF THE 1970S 1 CHAPTER TWO FROM WAR TO RECESSION: DETERMINING FACTORS IN THE EMERGENCE OF BRITISH PUNK IN THE LATE 1970s 46 1. Punk and The Consensus: The Move Towards the Anarchic 48 1.1.1940-1955: The Building Blocks of the Consensus 50 1.2. A Force to be Reckoned With: Sustaining Britain's `World Role' 50 1.3. Looking After the Nation: The Establishment of the Welfare State 54 1.4. Fixing the `Balance of Payments': The Development of the `Mixed Economy' 56 1.5.1955-1979: The Breakdown of the Consensus 57 1.6. `Rivers of Blood': Another Blow to the Consensus 63 1.7. Final Thoughts: The Beginning of the End 71 2. Pop vs. Progressive Rock: Starting Out on the Punk Rock Road to Nowhere 72 2.1. Musical Whiplash: K-Tel and the Politics of Boredom 73 2.2. From New York to Sex: Sonic Reducing in the Big Apple 83 3. The Sex Pistols and Anarchic Rhetoric: `Cos They Meant it Man 93 CHAPTER THREE THE POLITICS OF POST-PUNK: CRASS AND THE MOVE TOWARDS THE `ANARCHO' 109 1. New Beginnings: The Transformation of the Punk Rock `Ethos' 114 1.2. From Protest to Parody: The Building Blocks of the `Anarcho' 120 iii 2. Breaking the Sound Barrier: The Parallel Emergence of Discharge 129 3. `Bloody Revolutions': Crass and the Forging of a New Direction 144 4. Parliamentary Questions: Crass and the Politics of War 166 5. Instantaneous Spontaneity Drive: The Final Path of the `Anarcho' 183 5.1. Us Fish Must Swim Together: Anarcho-Punk and Lyrical Reflection 188 5.3. Onwards and Upwards: `Culture Shock' and the Hindrance of Stereotype 202 5.4 A Revolt Against the Rational: The End of the Road for the `Anarcho' 208 CONCLUSION 214 1. Unfinished Business: The Thread of Dissent into the'80s and Beyond 215 2. From Conflict to Sore Throat: Musical Heterogeneity of the Anarcho- Movement 229 3. The Relationship Between Punk and the `Anarcho': Final Thoughts 243 BIBLIOGRAPHY 244 SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY 250 ACCOMPANYING DISC LISTING: 1. Iggy and the Stooges:`Search and Destroy'. 2. The Yardbirds: `Heart Full of Soul'. 3. The Sex Pistols: `Anarchy in the UK'. 4. The Sex Pistols: `God Save the Queen'. 5. Crass: `Punk is Dead'. 6. Crass: `Darling' 7. Crass: `White Punks on Hope'. 8. Discharge: `Fight Back'. 9. Crass: `Bloody Revolutions'. 10. Crass: YesSir, I Will, (Extract). 11. Crass: `How Does it Feel?' 12. Subhumans:`From the Cradle to the Grave'. 13. Culture Shock: `Joyless'. 14. Poisongirls: `PersonsUnknown'. 15. Honey Bane: `Porno Grows'. 16. Conflict: `Increasethe Pressure'. 17. Sore Throat: `Heath'. iv 18. SoreThroat: `Eat Organic'. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to show my appreciation both towards my Supervisor Sheila Whiteley and Derek Scott at the University of Salford, for their constant support and encouragement through the long and (seemingly) endless completion of this project: I cannot thank them enough. I would like to thank George McKay for his advice and article through the post, Dick Lucas from Citizen Fish, for his time and generous donation of Threat by Example, Gee from Crass for her thoughts, Dave Morris, half of the McLibel trial for his ideas surrounding anarchism and the wider protest movement, Stewart Home for sending me loads of stuff about everything and Paul Marsh from Class War who sent me the (near) complete backlog of the paper. Although this work has often been a struggle, it has taught me that there are many kind and thoughtful people out there who are ready to give you help, advice and encouragement. Good luck to you all in your dissent! I would also like to show my appreciation towards Simon Warner for making my viva an enjoyable and constructive experience. There are many friends that have been involved, bored and badgered throughout this project. But a special thank-you must go to Russ Bestley, Greg Linfield (for burning the CDs), Mike Doe, Nick Reynolds, Dave (the Fonz), Robert, Eloise and David (who saved my life at the last minute), Sarah (fingers) Moody, Bettina (on the fiddle) Isaacs and Kev the punk for all their help. Especially to Kev for his chats about punk and anarchism (as well as magic tricks), after a few pints! Obviously I would like to thank my family - mum, dad and help. Without I brother Simon - for their never ending support and them would never have completed this thesis. Last but not least I would like to thank Sam. Between her patience, hugs, mugs of brew and constant support she has been an inspiration to me: thank-you. V1 Abstract investigate in This thesis aims to the way which anarchism - both as a means of dissent theoretical political as well as a practical tool of shock - was transformed from the `chaotic' intent of first wave punk towards a more informed political ideology in the emerging `anarcho-punk' scene of the 1980s. In particular, I wish to explore the way in which ideas surrounding `anarcho' and `punk' were fused together so as to provide a space where individuals could develop a more `informed lifestyle' in expressing a subversive distaste towards corporate forms of oppression such as multinationals, governments and the police. Chapter one will provide an overview of punk within a wider history of political and philosophical dissent, exploring ideas that link it to a continuing thread of agitation akin to groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Situationism. This debate will be further explored in chapter two. With particular attention to the music of the Sex Pistols, I wish to explore the extent to which the break down of the post-war consensus, and the resultant economic crisis in Britain in the 1970s, nurtured a social, political and musical environment for first wave punk to flourish. The anarcho-punk scene proper is introduced in the main body of this work. Here, I will turn primarily to the way in which the musical characteristics of the anarcho- punk movement encompass the twin ideals of `punk' and `anarchism' so as to provide a new form of organised dissent towards a capitalist system seen to embody oppression and uniformity. In particular, I wish to explore the extent to which the practical realities of applying a complex political system such as anarchism had repercussions on the transformation of the British punk scene as a whole. VII Chapter 1: The Transformation of the Subversive: Anarchist Theory and the British Punk Rock Scene of the 1970s. Paradoxically, the very characteristics that constitute a working definition of punk are those same characteristics that contribute towards its definitional ambiguity. For those elements that define punk, such as the breaking down of the relationship between performer and audience, or the DiY aspect of fanzine and record production, inform the existence of punk as perhaps one of the first subcultures to emerge from a paradigmatic move from a modernist meta- narrative. Perhaps more so than any other post-war subculture, an interpretative analysis of punk is bound up in a self-evident twist of fate: where `good' is `bad' (and vice-versa), and where the so-called `ground-roots' interpretation of a patched together Xeroxed fanzine is often as valid as a `well-written' researched academic text. ' Although there remains a definitional ambiguity as to the socio-cultural significance of punk, there still remains however, a general consensus as to its temporality as a post-war subculture. Despite the many debates surrounding the movement's musical and historical origins, academic analyses of punk have been drawn predominantly from a now well-trodden historical narrative. Indeed, one needs only to turn to the work of Heylin (1993), McNeil and McCain (2000), Savage (1992) and Laing (1985) to find evidence of a discussion of `punk' being centred around the tapered intensity of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, flanked 1 either side by musical and cultural influences: the Velvet Underground, MC5, New York Dolls on one hand, new wave, Oi! and post-punk on the other. Although the study of these are fundamental towards an understanding of 1970s British punk, there still remains however, one important musical and political strand of punk that has not been studied in any great depth; a strand that has subsequently been termed as `anarcho-punk'. ' Disillusioned by the increasingly commercial nature of `first wave' punk, the anarcho-punk scene could be regarded as a backlash against an increasing dependence of punk upon large record labels as well as its noticeable shift towards the mainstream. ' Anarcho-punk therefore could be interpreted as an attempt to re-ignite a number of generic ideals that were central to the so-called `original' or `authentic' punk ethos of the early to mid-1970s. These included a return to an essential `anyone-can-do-it' culture of music production and performance, a political and `ground-roots' emphasis upon fanzine distribution, and the importance of individual personal freedom so as to experiment with identity and expression. Moreover, anarcho-punk began to build upon the so- called earlier established `punk ethos'. Central to this was taking the concept of 1 It may be argued however, that punk still adheres towards a modernist meta-narrative in that it holds to a real/phoney dichotomy.