read less
Too much fighting on the dance floor – Radio 4 prog
by 11 Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
by 11 Comments
read less
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This prog on the tribal – and often violent – nature of gigs in the 70s and 80s is worth listening. Especially if you were there:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b068xrkt
The aggro of gigs in those days was partly the wilful tribalism/ ‘year-zero’ thinking/ violence at the political extremes meeting in the middle. Idiots throwing glasses at gigs, “steaming” rude bwoys at Bob Marley’s gigs at the Lyceum robbing fans at knifepoint, and the usual BS about ‘authenticity’, viz. Jimmy Sham having to skip a big Rock Against Racism because of his bone-headed followers. I wasn’t impressed by the nihilism, or the armchair radicals and their enthusiasm for class-war violence, and throwing a pint. To me, the latter was a waste of bad beer when I could barely afford a pint at one of the dire ‘club’ venues around at the time. People used to aspire to a gig with the spirit of a football match, but Status Quo and Rod Stewart were better in creating the bonhomie of the terraces than any NME- (or “Sounds”) friendly act. The re-mix and E generation did something great in breaking this thuggish culture down.
I heard about this on Today this morning and was going to post after I had a chance to listen. Something people so often forget about the 70s and 80s, particularly those who would like to think that Britain is a worse place now than it has ever been (no chaps, it’s not) is what a violent place it was.
Trouble could come from any direction and at any time. We still remember football violence, but gigs could kick off at any point;, it was a rare night in the club if the bouncers weren’t called to sort out a ruck in the dance floor; in schools there wasn’t just violence between kids from different areas of town, but teachers were sanctioned to inflict assaults on the pupils. A grim time in lots of ways and one which I wouldn’t want back.
Two thumbs up; Jarvis Cocker was still reporting on this in the mid-90s on “misfits”. Never saw what was so cool about “looking hard”. Delighting in brutality as never appealed.
I remember people talking on Radcliffe and Maconie about inexplicable outbreaks of violence at Fleet Foxes gigs. Unless, of course, it was people fighting to get out.
Cockney Rejects (last year…) – time for a reappraisal?
I didn’t see you there, Colin. Were you lurking at the back ?
Read this very interesting article on the BBC website only today -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25142557
I’ve long found the Nicky Crane story absolutely fascinating.
It’s a heady mixture of the old saw of fascist fascination with the Übermensch, and the fact the weekend Nazis were simultaneously attracted and repulsed by homosexual imagery.
That and the fact I took more than a few hits at that GLC Redskins gig.
Really interesting time in terms of (homo)sexual politics as we moved from the era of tabloid outings into no-one really giving a crap either way.
It was happening way back in the 60s. I remember it all kicking off with skinheads at a Pink Floyd gig (circa 67?). It was so uncool man!
Surprisingly the last fight I saw at a gig was Springsteen at Old Trafford ca 2008. Two middle-aged bald guys, who should really have knows better, started laying into each other. I suspect it was football (and drink) related rather than a difference of opinion about the merits or not of The Ghost of Tom Joad album.