Gilbert, P. (2016). PUNK '76. Mojo Magazine, February 2016, Issue 267, pp. 66–88.
21 pages - Clash on page 76/77
Punk '76
A month-by-month retrospective of punk's explosive rise in 1976, charting the journey from underground chaos to national infamy. Featuring insights from key figures like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, Caroline Coon, and Mark Perry, it captures the energy, rebellion, and legacy of punk's defining year.
Page 66 – PUNK '76 Introduction – Pat Gilbert introduces a month-by-month journey through punk’s explosive rise.
Page 68 – The Sex Pistols' Early Days – How the Sex Pistols sparked chaos from Watford discos to media outrage.
Page 72 – Ted Carroll & Chiswick Records – The story of pub rock’s influence on punk and signing The 101'ers.
Page 74 – Caroline Coon Remembers – Caroline Coon on coining 'punk rock' and witnessing The Clash's beginnings.
Page 76 – Mark P. & Sniffin' Glue – How Mark Perry went from bank clerk to fanzine pioneer and punk figurehead.
Page 78 – The Ramones at the Roundhouse – The Ramones' 1976 London gig that electrified the UK punk scene.
Page 84 – The Roxy Club Story – How London’s first punk venue gave a stage to a generation of misfits.
Page 86 – Where Are They Now? – A look at what became of punk’s key players, four decades on.
Page 88 – Pretty Vacant Compilation – A collection of proto-punk tracks that shaped the sound of 1976.
PUNK ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
SEX PISTOLS ...AND THE COUNTDOWN TO ANARCHY
BY THOSE THAT LIVED THROUGH IT!
COVER STORY
Page 66 – PUNK '76 – From Watford disco to national infamy, Pat Gilbert helms MOJO's month-by-month countdown to anarchy with the Pistols, The Damned, The Slits, Buzzcocks, Don Letts, and many more.
Power surge: The Clash, Chalk Farm, 1976 (from left) Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer; (insets, from top) Bernard Rhodes keeps abreast of Tory press on the Anarchy tour: The Clash on-stage with drummer Terry Chimes and (far right) Keith Levene.
JOE STRUMMER COMPLETES THE CLASH
REBEL ALLIANCE
English punk co-architect BERNARD RHODES on spiting Malcolm McLaren and forging punk's political vanguard.
I was working in the shop with Vivienne when Malcolm was away in America [in early-mid 1975], and thievery was a big thing then.
Steve and Paul would come in, trying to nick stuff; then they started bringing in stolen equipment, amps and guitars, which they wanted me to sell for them. I'm from the street, I'm practical, so I said, "I know you like music, why don't you play these fucking things instead?" I used to go down to the place they rehearsed (Riverside Studios) and knock about with them; I even helped with some arrangements, because they wanted to sound like the Faces, and rant like Iggy, but I wanted it to be different.
"Mick Jones had been screwed over. He wanted to prove himself."
I was living in Camden at the time, and Steve Jones would roll up at 11 at night in a stolen Bentley and go, "Coming out for a ride, then?" They'd want to go dancing down Hammersmith Palais, with all the working-class kids with nice clothes on. It was good fun; I got caught up in it all.
We were getting on great, then Malcolm came back. He took me aside and said, "Bernard, stay away from this." He kicked me in the balls, basically. So I thought, "You fuck me over, I'll fuck you over."
They were on the lookout for a singer. Richard Hell was considered, there were auditions behind my back. So I thought, "I'll find someone who'll really fuck Malcolm over." I found this guy, John (Lydon), he was a right pest, he had the "I hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt. The only thing was, he hadn't done anything before and I knew the others wouldn't accept him. He wasn't like Steve or Paul or Glen, he was totally different. He was a bit scruffy – he didn't wear nice working-class outfits and go out dancing. So I took care of it, I worked quite closely with him.
I took John to the shop and got him to audition to the jukebox. Then we went to the Roebuck [pub], and did some more talking. The funny thing was Vivienne loved him! I couldn't believe it. Steve and Paul were still sniffing around him, like animals, 'cos he wasn't like them. Then Malcolm took over; which is why I did The Clash.
Don't get me wrong, Malcolm had a terrific personality, he was a very clever guy and we shared lots of great times together, but his philosophy and mine are completely different. His was 'bad behaviour is good', which was highly entertaining at times, often reckless and, in some cases, fatal. He persuaded people to go to extremes to fulfil his need for danger. But I couldn't fuck about with stuff like that: I was from the street, I was practical, and more political.
My idea was [to create something] to be like a power surge, to represent the audience and the group as one. I wasn't interested in the old rock format, that hierarchy where the group were gods. That's why I gave The Clash that line, "No Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones in 1977," even though I knew they liked those groups – you needed to sacrifice some stuff to get to a certain point. I thought it would be more like a political party; we could solve people's problems and the audience could relate to us like that. I didn't like the New York Dolls' [idea of punk], it was like Marc Bolan to me; I was more interested in the street radical stuff.
What did I see in recruit in late-1975 to London SS? At first I didn't want to work with him, I needed some persuading, so I sent him over to see Malcolm. Malcolm phoned me up and said, "Who's this long-haired idiot you sent round here?" (laughs). What I sensed in Mick was that he'd been rejected a lot. He'd been screwed over before, so he wanted to prove himself, he had a little bit of anger. But after a while we still weren't getting anywhere. We got Keith Levene in, who was interesting. Then we got hold of Joe, and I thought, "Yeah, finally we're going places..."
When Mick Jones wrote the songs, I had to get Joe to add in the street radical stuff. We'd always change the songs round a bit (thus Jones's I'm So Bored Of You became I'm So Bored With The USA). Joe represented what I had to say, and that's where the politics came in. The Clash and the Sex Pistols were two different groups, really, running parallel: Never Mind The Bollocks... was about the bad behaviour, The Clash was more about getting a shitty job and not being able to do anything about it.
The two things that don't get picked up on enough was how punk liberated women. It got rid of men in tight satin trousers, groupies, all that Led Zeppelin shit; women could own their sexuality – though we seem to be going backwards on that now. The other thing is; why do you think I never let The Clash do Top Of The Pops? It was that whole Jimmy Savile thing. They hate me at the BBC. I knew about it, but I couldn't fucking say anything. There's a lot of censorship and it's even worse today. It's like North Korea.
The most upsetting thing about [the punk time] is that it's all being demolished. There is no Safe European Home any more, London isn't Calling, 'cos no one can afford to live there, let alone the youth. There isn't a Hammersmith Palais for blacks or whites to nick stuff in. It's gone. Punk took the power from the corporations and the reason today's music industry is shit is that musicians have allowed the corporations to take it back. I told [Def Jam label co-creator] Russell Simmons what he had to do [back in early '80s New York], and he took it on board. I was talking to that bloke [BBC political commentator] Andrew Marr, we used to meet in Richmond Park when I lived there, and I said, "Did Def Jam lead to Obama becoming president?" He seemed to think so. That's where all this stuff led.
www.blackmarketclash.co.uk
email blackmarketclash.co.uk@gmail.com
STRUMMER, BAD, Pogues, films + : THE SOLO YEARS STRUMMER & THE LATINO ROCKABILLY WAR BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS & FEATURE MAGAZINES Sex Pistols / The Jam / The Libertines / Others
|
