Punk Rock in the U.K.
What is considered one of the greatest LPs ever?
"London Calling" The Clash
What was the UK's first punk rock single?
"New Rose" by the Damned
Melody Maker
(1925-2000) Merged with the NME.
The Long Hot Summer
-Hottest summer on record (temp in 90s); drought conditions -Small bombs are set off -Strikes, power cuts, escalating unemployment -Notting Carnival Hill Riot
The State of Britain: 1975
-Recession -By July, worst unemployment since WWII. -30,000 squatters living in abandoned flats in London. -Racial tensions -Bombing in central London
How many bombs were set off during The Long Hot Summer and where?
14 in London's West End
How long did The Situationist International exist?
15 years
When was "London Calling" released?
1979
What band was the most dominant band that defined the mainstream at the time in Britain during the mid-70s?
ABBA
Where did The Clash previously play before Clark University?
Boston's Orpheum Theater on September 19, 1979 (Capacity: 2,700)
Who led the socialist Labour Party during the crisis period in Britain?
James Callaghan
A Tiny Island
Since it's smaller than the U.S., radio and television blanket country. Cultural trends travel fast--even in the pre-Internet age.
By the early 1980s, who became one of most popular rock bands in the world with hit records and MTV videos?
The Clash
What band did Caroline Coons briefly manage?
The Clash
Which record debuted at #1 on British Charts and reached #206 on the Billboard album chart?
"Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"
"Cut the Crap" lone saving grace that was nearly as good as anythign they'd recording with Mick Jones and Topper Headon?
"This is England"
John Peel
(1939-2004) Born John Ravenscroft. Widely acknowledged for promoting artists in various styles of alternative music including post-punk, dance, grindcore, and afropop. Without him, a lot of British punk goes unheard. Influence on multiple generations of British music fans in incalculable.
Malcolm McLaren
(1946-2010) Cultural jack-of-all-trades involved in music, clothes, film, and TV.
Tony Wilson
(1950-2007). In 1976, host of "So It Goes" in Manchester and books the Sex Pistols for their first British TV appearance. Start of punk happening in the "faraway towns". Played major role in post-punk scene in Manchester working with and promoting bands such as Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, and the Smiths
The New Musical Express
(1952-now) Peak years were 1970s-80s where it sold 300,000/week.
Sounds
(1970-1991) Covered punk but shifted its focus to metal in the 1980s.
"Easter" Patti Smith
(1978) Patti Smith's best-selling record reaching #13 in U.S. and #5 in U.K album charts.
Lecture: The Slits single
(1981) "The Man Next Door"
When were Big Audio Dynamite (BAD) together?
(1984-1990)
Lecture: BAD Single
(1986) "C'mon Every Beatbox"
BAD II
(1991-1993) Jones recruited some new musicians after original BAD spit up.
Vivienne Westwood
(b. 1941) Designed many iconic (and expensive) punk clothes. Didn't want to be a fashion designer at all.
Jamie Reid
(b. 1947) Graphic artist who created "ransom note" style of graphic design that defined early U.K. punk and was most closely associated with the Sex Pistols.
Don Letts
(b. 1956 in London) Crucial figure in British punk scene. Introduced many UK punks to ska, roots reggae, and dub. Early chronicler (film) of the London punk scene. Arguably, one of the coolest looking guys on the planet.
Former names of Sex
1. Let it Rock 2. Too Fast to Live (Too Young to Die) 3. Seditionaries
Live at Clark University Setlist for The Clash
1. Safe European Home 2. I'm So Bored With the U.S.A. 3. London Calling 4. Jail Guitar Doors 5. Capital Radio 6. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais 7. English Civil War 8. Koka Kola 9. I Fought the Law 10. Clampdown 11. The Guns of Brixton 12. Clash City Rockers
When and where was The Situationist International founded?
1957 Paris
When did Ready, Steady, Go run?
1963-1966
When did Top of the Pops run?
1964-2006
When was The Situationist International disbanded?
1972
When were the Sex Pistols formed?
1975
When was The Long Hot Summer?
1976
When did Perry stop publishing Sniffin' Glue and why?
1978. He was disillusioned by punk.
When would Margaret Thatcher be Prime Minister (and an awful person)?
1979-1990
When did The "Clash" exist?
1983-1986
When did the Sex Pistols reunite? Which bassist went on tour with them?
1996; Glen Matlock
ABBA's success?
25 Top 40 hits, 9 Number 1s, and sold hundreds of millions of records
Reid and McLaren
Affiliated with anarchist groups and a group of radicals known as Situationists.
Where was the Live at Clark University venue and how many did it hold?
Atwood Hall & 640
When was the Sex Pistols first British TV appearance?
August 28, 1976
Mark Perry
Bank clerk and punk fan who began publishing Sniffin' Glue in July 1976.
Who's idea was it to keep the Clash going and record a new album--Cut the Crap (1985)?
Bernie Rhodes (their manager)
Who wrote one of the first books on (mostly) British Punk in 1977?
Caroline Coons "1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion"
What happened after the Clash's Shea Stadium gig (where they opened for the Who)?
Chimes left the band again and was replaced by Pete Howard.
Who managed the Sex Pistols?
Clothing store owner (who also sold sexual fetish wear) Malcolm McLaren
Origin of "Anarchy"
Comes from the Greek "an archos" meaning "no government".
Sniffin' Glue
DIY fanzine that sold 15,000 with each issue and got ads from major record labels.
When is opening of John Peel's first punk rock radio program?
December 10, 1976
Who was a DJ at the Roxy and worked at clothing stores, Acme Attractions and Sex?
Don Letts
Where did the inspiration for the "London Calling" album cover come from?
Elvis Presley
Gang War
Featured Johnny Thunders (NY Dolls) and Wayne Kramer (MC5). Not very good.
What did Mark Perry do in 1977?
Found the band Alternative T.V.
Members of the Sex Pistols
Glen Matlock (bass), John Lydon/Johnny Rotten (vocals), Steve Jones (guitar), Paul Cook (drums)
Windrush Generation (1948)
Immigrants faced escalating racism long before the 1970s. In 1976, racism and anti-immigrant sentiments were, again, on the rise
Who brought their bombing campaign to central London?
Irish Republican Army
Who was actually Prime Minister during this crisis period in Britain?
James Callaghan
Who originally created some of the design elements for Westwood's t-shirts?
Jamie Reid
Who attended John Ruskin Grammar School together?
Jamie Reid and Malcolm McLaren
Who was the President during the initial rise of punk rock in the U.S. and who did people assume it was?
Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan (also an awful person)
Who produced "Easter" Patti Smith?
Jimmy Iovine
Members of The Clash
Joe Strummer (vocals/guitar), Paul Simonon (bass/vocals), Mick Jones (guitar/vocals), and Topper Headon (drums)
Who is arguably the world's greatest DJ?
John Peel
Who played punk rock on BBC radio?
John Peel
Who was one of first broadcasters to play psychedelic rock, reggae, and punk on British radio?
John Peel
Meaning of "Anarchy"
Maintains that no coercive institutions are justified and should be replaced by social and economic organizations based on voluntary contractual agreement.
Sex
Malcolm McLaren's clothes shop
Who briefly managed the New York Dolls before going onto manage the Sex Pistols?
Malcom McLaren
Rock v. Pop Dichotomy
Many rock fans found ABBA's music shallow because Rock was seen as more substantive, important, authentic, and "better". Pop was treated as disposable, empty-handed, escapist, commodified, and banal--unconcerned with sociopolitical realities.
Who do many assume caused the anarchy (and panic) and crisis period in Britain?
Margaret Thatcher and the conservative Tory Party
Who started the DIY fanzine culture in the U.K. that mirrored Punk magazine in the U.S.?
Mark Perry
Who formed Big Audio Dynamite (BAD)?
Mick Jones
Who often went on strike during The Long Hot Summer?
Miners, garbage collectors, grave diggers, truck drivers
Situationist International
Modern society is a series of spectacles: frozen moments wherein it is impossible to experience real life or actively participate in the construction of the lived world. Alienation has permeated all areas of social life that people are alienated from the goods they consume, but also from their own experiences, emotions, creativity, and desires. People are spectators of their own lives.
Where were most racial tensions located in 1975 Britain?
Notting Hill & Brixton
When was "Anarchy in the U.K." by the Sex Pistols released?
November 26, 1976
When was "New Rose" by the Damned released?
October 22, 1976
Release Date of the Sex Pistols only full-length LP, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"
October 28, 1977 (U.S.: November 11, 1977)
The Situationist International
Organization of international political/cultural revolutionaries that was defined by a Marxist and surrealist perspective on culture and politics, without separation between the two: art and politics are linked and defined in revolutionary terms. Analyzed the modern world from POV of everyday life and an attack on capitalist degradation of life of people.
The Clash
Outspokenly political, the band often aligned itself with leftist (if not radical) political causes/groups. They were promoted by their U.S. record label (Columbia) as "The Only Band That Matters."
Who was an idol of the Slits?
Patti Smith
Sex Pistols' American Tour
Play primarily in the South. Lasts 7 gigs from January 5-14, 1978. Band broke up by end of tour, partly because of Vicious' heroin addiction.
Notting Hill Carnival Riot 1976
Police attempted to stop pickpocket and people defended him. Over 150 injured and 66 arrests. 17 black youths were charged.
What genre of music defined the mid-70s mainstream, despite political and economic turmoil?
Pop
What was another popular pop music program on British TV?
Ready, Steady, Go
Women and Punk Rock
Refused to conform to the "male gaze" — i.e., hyper-sexualized. Few bands were more challenging and non-negotiable in how they presented themselves than the Slits.
Live at Clark University: The Clash
Return to Massachusetts on the "Take the Fifth" tour of the US. Gig was oversold and students holding tickets were turned away at the door. Tempers flared and Worcester PD showed up fearing a riot. The Clash, told that people were being turned away, were pissed. After playing 2, maybe 3 songs, Strummer and Paul Simonon left the stage, refusing to return until everyone could be let in.
What band did a Christmas event in Huddersfield, England in 1977?
Sex Pistols
Who did A&M give an advance of over $200,000 only to drop them a week later?
Sex Pistols
Who did the Sex Pistols replaced Glen Matlock with?
Sid Vicious
In January 1977, which fanzine printed "how-to" advice for aspiring punk rockers?
Sideburns
What were the Pistols famous for?
Specializing in chaos and outrage. Being dropped by major labels that signed them.
What infamous thing occurred during an English TV appearance of the Sex Pistols?
Steve Jones got drunk and cursed out the host Bill Grundy (who was also drunk and had it coming).
What happened with Westwood's clothing in 2004?
Subject of exhibit and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Where is ABBA from?
Sweden
Who replaced Topper Headon in The Clash and did the Combat Rock tour in 1982?
Terry Chimes
Who became British punk's most commercially successful band?
The Clash
Who wrote a song about their experience at Notting Hill Carnival Riot in 1976? What is the name of the song?
The Clash's Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon; "White Riot"
2 Opening acts at Live at Clark University?
The Necessaries & Gang War.
What were the 3 main weekly newspapers for the U.K. music press?
The New Musical Express, Melody Maker, and Sounds
What band was on the first issue cover of Sniffin' Glue?
The Ramones
Although Peel's first proper punk rock show wouldn't happen until later, who's first album did he already play and when?
The Ramones on May 19, 1976
What happened on July 4, 1976?
The Ramones play the Roundhouse to a crowd of 2,000 as the opening act for the Flamin' Groovies.
Punk's most notorious band?
The Sex Pistols
Who founded Factory Records and the Hacienda club?
Tony Wilson
Longest-running and most-watched pop music program on British TV?
Top of the Pops
What constitutes "real anarchy"?
Varies from anarchist to anarchist. EX: peaceful change vs. use of violence Generally speaking, anarchy is not the same as chaos.
The "Clash": after Mick Jones and Topper Headon
Vince White (guitar), Paul Simonon (bass), Joe Strummer (guitar, vocals), Nick Sheppard (guitar), Pete Howard (drums)
After Mick Jones was sacked, who were hired as guitarists?
Vince White and Nick Sheppard
Who is one of Britain's best known, and sought after, designers?
Vivienne Westwood
Female Punk/Post-Punk Bands
X-Ray Spex, the Raincoats, the Pretenders