Somehow I have strayed from the punk rock orthodoxy on tonights show. I may have to leave town for a few weeks as a result. John Otway predates punk but found himself caught up in the stampede when one of his singles was a hit in 1977. Tonight there's his version of an Adam Faith song, a tale of thunder, lightning, trains and other dramatic devices.
There's also a group black teenage girls from South Bronx , whose only connection to punk is that they were produced by Martin 'Zero' Hannett. So don't mention Glen Campbell's appearance on 'My World Fell Down' or I may lose my funding from the Sid Vicious Foundation For Punk Programming.
Gang Of Four - I Found That Essence Rare
Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout
Lurkers - Here Come The Bad Times
Minuteman - Voodoo Slave
New York Dolls - Stranded In The Jungle
Methodishca - Leisuretime
Revillos - Rev Up
John Otway - Cheryl's Going ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
ESG - You're No Good
101ers - 5 Star Rock n Roll Petrol
XTC - Towers of London
Members - Phone In Show
Sagitarrius - My World Fell Down
DNA - You & You
I've just worked out that I have been to three large outdoor music events in my life. In 1990 I went to the Feile in Thurles, the first Trip To Tipp where I saw That Petrol Emotion. I stood there in the middle of a Gaelic pitch waiting for them to appear, thinking 'never again' as I stood through a series of dull bands.
In 2002 I saw Oasis who were in Derry in body, if not actually in spirit. 'Ho hum' seemed to be the feeling shared by both audience and band.
So I was only playing the role of parent/purser/driver on Wednesday in Dublin , where Green Day were in Marlay Park, with 'special guests'.Ìý We missed Joan Jett because I didn't leave Derry early enough (said oldest daughter) but were in just in time to see Paramore throw rock n roll shapes and tell us that , "Oh My Gaahd", they'd just gone platinum in Ireland. The singer was very excited about that fact. Obviously she missed high school the day they studied European population figures.
I couldn't wait for Paramore to be over as I had spotted an impressive range of food stalls at the back of the field and had worked out that I had just enough euros with me to cover dinner and T shirts, as long as we preferred salad to actual food. It was while I was perfecting my argument that the 15 euro T shirt actually looked cooler than the 35 euro version that the sound of The Ramones 'Rock n Roll Radio' came over the PA system.Ìý That was the pre-show tape chosen by Green Day and I thought 'maybe this is going to be OK'.
It was actually better than OK. It was great. I won't review it as I don't know enough about their music but it was brilliant entertainment, consisting basically of Billie Joe Armstrong running up and down the stage, playing guitar and shouting 'Are You Ready To Go Crazy' every ten minutes. If you've been to these big productions before, you'll probably be blase about such things as big screens, video projections and great balls of fire. What you might not have seen is a band with charm, warmth, humour and , most important of all , punk rock roots. A video projection of old newspaper cuttings of early US punk bands like Gang Green and MDC was shown at one stage during the show. No comment was made, it was one of several backdrops projected against a wall of speakers. But it gave me a warm glow and a thought that behind the million selling records, stadium shows and pyrotechnics, a punk rock band is still lurking.Ìý
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The singer with the UK Subs is a subject of endless fascination for the presenter of this programme. Charlie Harper was in his 30s when the band were playing in the Roxy Club in
London.ÌýNowadays, thirtyÌýdoesn't seem to be that old to the regular readers of this blog, I suspect, but in 1977 we were all under instruction not to trustÌýanyone who'd been on this earth for more thanÌýthree decades.ÌýUnless he was John Peel.ÌýBut a while back, the journalist John RobbÌýdescribed Charlie asÌýnot only a punk rock survivor, but a survivor of the British Beat Boom of the 1960s. What aÌýgreat insight into theÌýUK Subs and a complimentÌýto Charlie, who played aÌýpartÌýin the only twoÌýBritish music movementsÌýof any note during the past century.
Charlie Harper is 66 and still sings.
B 52s - 52 Girls
Girls At Our Best! - I'm Beautiful Now
John Cale - Heartbreak Hotel
UK Subs - The Same Thing
Stereo Models - Move Fast Stay Ahead
Tweeds - I'm Thru
Triffids - Jesus Calling
Johnny Moped - Panic Button
Glaxo Babies - Avoiding The Issue
The Stems - Can't Resist
Seeds - Up In Her Room (edit)
The Names - Nightshift
Richard Hell - Blank Generation
The Creation - For All That I Am
Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers
Managing to avoid all football references, apart from Frankly Mr Shankly which has nothing to do with the Liverpool legend. As Morrissey isn't replying to my emails, I'll go with either a tribute to the book Billy Liar, or a comment on a row with Rough Trade records. Neither of those explanations are my own, of course, I read them on the internet. I prefer the Billy Liar theme of a youthÌýwho has an inflated sense of his own talent and decides to give up the job to go and try some of that fame stuff instead. Rows with record companies aren't as interesting to people outside the band unless the band is the Sex Pistols. Although I did read that the line "I didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry Mr Shankly" was a reference to someone who worked at Rough Trade and gave some of it to Morrissey himself. That was either the act of a deluded man, a desperate man or a clever man who knew how to annoy the singer. Annoying the singer is an honourable tradition in showbusiness.
Shop Assistants - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Again
Swell Maps - Border Country
Dead Kennedys - Your Emotions
Television Personalities - Where's Bill Grundy Now ?
Microdisney - Well Behaved Man
Eater - Outside View
Television - Venus
Slaughter & The Dogs - Boston Babies
UsersÌý- Now That Its Over
20/20 - Giving It All
Delta 5 - Now That You're Gone
Smiths - Frankly Mr Shankly
Young Marble Giants - Searching For Mr Right
Blondie - Love At The Pier
Runaways - Right Now
Tights - Cracked
After thirty three years and eight world cups, Mark E Smith has finally come around to the idea of a World Cup Song. Not that he was really trying up to now, being too busy with the music machine that is The Fall.
ÌýHe's the featured singer on 'England's Heartbeat' by a one off band called Shuttleworth. It's pointless trying to compare it to his day job because the Fall never sound the same from one record to the next. He does sing as if he's really trying to hold the tune, over massed acoustic guitars singing about England going to South Africa and trying not to become a 'Brazilian breakfast'.
The is worth watching if only to see MES wandering around a park looking like someone's uncle out for a kickabout with no intention of taking off his leather coat and laughing to cover up the fact that he can't run as fast as he used to. Not sure if he wrote the song - its not as good as Kicker Conspiracy but that's like complaining that Wayne Rooney isn't as good as Martin Peters. I am biased of course. The best ever England World Cup song was written by a man from Derry. Phil Coulter's 'Back ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ' reminds the overpaid leather kickers that people back in England will be 'watching and waiting and cheering every move'. It didn't stop them going out in the quarter finals in 1970 of course. Neither will 'England's Heartbeat', unless they replace Fabio C with Mark E.
While the board of EMI were sitting in their top hats and pin striped suits, discussing the sacking of the Sex Pistols from their record label, the loveable spike tops were in the basement studio, several floors below, recording 'No Future'. That was December 1976, days after the Bill Grundy episode where the bad language and sneers of Rotten, Cook, Matlock and Jones almost caused the UK to sink into the Atlantic. As it turned out, the band were only recording demos, one of which is the aforementioned 'No Future'. The song was eventually recorded for release as a single, by which time it had been trimmed, the lyrics were firmed up (the line 'God save Windowlene' didn't make the cut) and it became the record we loved so well. The record that was banned by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ and denied being number one this week in 1977, despite selling more copies than Rod Stewart's The First Cut Is The Deepest/I Don't Want To Talk About It, which was the official number one. It was, of course, the week of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Don't talk to me about conspiracies. Rotten could still end up in the Tower.
Saints - This Perfect Day
Jilted John - Jilted John
World Domination Enterprises - Asbestos Lead Asbestos
Flaming Groovies - First Plane ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ
Celibate Rifles - 24 Hours (SOS)
X Ray Spex - Highly Inflammable
Sex Pistols - No Future
Moondogs - Dream Girl
MC5 - Rambling Rose
Castaways - Liar Liar
Cabaret Voltaire - Nag Nag Nag
Cramps - Don't Eat Stuff Off The Pavement
Essential Logic - Aerosol Burns
dBs - Big Brown Eyes
Scritti Politti - Skank Bloc Bologna
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