Punk

Punk

Yeah the sex pistols! Never mind the bollocks, heard it fresh and new when it came out via brother david cuz he was mega into the clash – going off to see them, cuz he was old enough. I wasn’t was about 11 or so. At school, high school, started off wearing my bro’s andi’s hand me downs – northern soul – glam rock stuff very fashionable – the height of – in 1975. flares, high waisters with zillions of pockets and many multitudes of buttons, shirt & then start emblazoned tank top jumper. And shoes! Shoes that were crepe sole or flat sole whichever, and round at toe end – like ping-pong bats…truly…weird design but I felt so ultra cool wearing all this stuff to school. Tru it wasn’t school uniform so I guess I must’ve been a slight way off a model school kid at 1^st year at 13 yo. But I never recall any problems encountered then with authority. Hell, that was to come when I was 14. & I was embracing punk rock & I was immersing myself into its seductive clarion call 100%

So yeah I had wayne county & the electric chairs ‘if u don’t wanna fuck me then fuck off’, the clash’s singles & albums, sex pistols lp, jilted john song on top of the pops ‘gordon is a moron’ can still remember all the words to that too – often sing it, just for a laugh or when inspired! Also grew up on the beatles and the carpenters, various other rock n roll…bread, jean michelle jarred – oxygene. Remember mike oldfield doing tubular bells – thru a mate of andi’s. loads of inspirational music. We were all fans of marc bolan & t-rex too and big fans of slade! And the sweet too. Loved all their songs. But punk kept its grip on me and when I had the chance I found a second hand record shop in leeds city centre and bought slf’s inflammable material! Fucking awesome record. One significant time for me was lying on the floor, wearing these clunky – yet good headphones & blasting side 1 thru 2 of the vinyl thru my ears of inflammable material at full volume. After I remember my ears bleeding as I’d perforated my eardrums…I was no stranger to perforated eardrums due to a congenital ear problem ive had since forever. I was deaf at age 6 or 7 – had grommets placed in due to ear probs in an operation at hospital vague memories of going there pre-op with mom or grandma. Still suffer if I get a chest infection etc.

Similar time was listening to clash’s cost of living ep. And a pivotal moment was going into leeds city centre of a Saturday – to meet the gang. This time I was hanging out with the mods & a girl asked me to buy ‘baby love’ by dianna ross or Supremes – cuz she was too embarrassed to do so.- from hmv (my shame! Lol) I found crass ‘shaved women/reality asylum’ cuz somehow id heard about crass. From school or other local area punks? My fave side was shaved women cuz I heard guitars on it other side was weird & different – liked the anti-christ bit tho…very anarchy in the uk! Yaeh I was getting into punk & at 14 I bleached my hair for the very 1^st time & started to dress punk hating the northern soul clothes I thought were cool before cuz I now realized they were so un cool now! I followed the unfashionable punks by wanting to look almost exactly like those in my sex pistols books! I was hooked. It seemed like punk was a movement, a force to change everything, it was a revolution – of thought. And we could fuck the system & desatroy all the establishment. Kill all those old old bastards who, from authority, controlled us! And I hated the police as my brother – andi – was always in trouble with them cuz he loved motorbikes yet didn’t have a licence or helmets or owt, in fact all his mates loved bikes & there were different bikes round every day needing this & that mending & we rode them up & down the back street or in the fields or andi – cuz he was a daredevil & didn’t care, rode them on the roads & was mega cool. In fact I wanted to be a criminal like him & get a worse criminal record than him – such was my peer envy at the time lol – what an idiot!

Jeez when I got to hanging round with the mods we even had a lambretta 125 that was stuck in 2^nd or 3^rd gear – so we rode in round the fields in turn and had to stop by broadside it, slide on its side to a stop by our mates. It’d stall. So to start it again we’d help each other by running it down the field & bump it into life! Fun bloody times. So what does all this have to do with punk? Well it infused my soul all thru these times & I was becoming more dressed up like one yet listening to so much music that I could appreciate fuzzbox guitar and funky jangly chords & distorted bass over wicked rhythm sections in motown & the punk lyrics always spoke more to me than all that r&b or soul I heard. All the trendy bands – chron gen, anti system, no government, exploited, more crass.

I was never a hip punk fan, I just got stuff I really really liked & played it to death & beyond sometimes whereas I guess others bought up lots & lots of vinyl & found many bands that way. I seemed to do ok though. Them there was the psychedelic furs, toyah Wilcox, uk subs, devo ‘mongoloid’ for example. Blondie – parallel lines. Sham 69, angelic upstarts. Stuff on top of the pops as punk went mainstream. Then there was the jam too…wow rick, my best mate awwwww! Now there were some times or what!