Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music

in England

Thesis: The political unrest in the 70s, which derived in violence, influenced the music in England Introduction: The 70s are now considered as violent times for a number of reasons, most of them local politics and economic rather than social or of foreign politics like in the 60s. This clash of ages created new bands and types of music, which just like those times they are lousy, quick and the lyrics filled with rage or melancholy. I. - The Government and its politics A) Edward Heat With another general election approaching in 1970 a Conservative policy document emerged from the Selsdon Park Hotel that, according to some historians,[7] offered monetarist and free-market oriented policies as solutions to the country's unemployment and inflation problems. Heath stated that the Selsdon weekend only reaffirmed policies that had actually been evolving since he became leader of the Conservative Party. The prime minister, Harold Wilson, thought the document a vote-loser and dubbed it Selsdon Man in order to portray it as reactionary. But Heath's Conservative Party won the general election of 1970. It was the only occasion since 1945 in which one party with a working majority had been replaced in a single election by another party with a working majority. The new cabinet included Margaret Thatcher (Education and Science), William Whitelaw (Leader of the House of Commons) and the former prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs). Heath's time in office was as difficult as that of all British prime ministers in the 1970s. The government suffered an early blow with the death of Chancellor of the Exchequer Iain Macleod on 20 July 1970; his replacement was Anthony Barber. Heath's planned economic policy changes (including a significant shift from direct to indirect taxation) remained largely unimplemented: the Selsdon policy document was more or less abandoned as unemployment increased considerably by 1972 (the so-called "U-Turn"). From this point the economy was inflated in an attempt to bring unemployment down, the so-called "Barber Boom".

Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music in England

Heath attempted to rein in the increasingly militant trade union movement, which had so far managed to stop attempts to curb their power by legal means. His Industrial Relations Act set up a special court under the judge Lord Donaldson, whose imprisonment of striking dockworkers was a public relations disaster that the Thatcher Government of the 1980s would take pains to avoid repeating (relying instead on confiscating the assets of unions found to have broken new anti-strike laws). Heath's attempt to confront trade union power resulted in a political battle, hobbled as the government was by inflation and high unemployment. Especially damaging to the government's credibility were the two miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974, the latter of which resulted in much of the country's industry working a Three-Day Week in an attempt to conserve energy. The National Union of Mineworkers won its case but the energy shortages and the resulting breakdown of domestic consensus contributed to the eventual downfall of his government. Heath's government did not curtail welfare spending, though at one point the squeeze in the education budget resulted in Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Education and Science, acting on the late Iain Macleod's wishes, ending the provision of free school milk from 8 to 11 year olds (the preceding Labour Government having removed it from secondary schools three years before) for which the tabloid press christened her "Thatcher the Milk Snatcher". She did succeed in blocking Macleod's other posthumous Education policy of abolishing the Open University recently founded by the preceding Labour Government. Edward Heath 38 Heath's government's 1972 Local Government Act changed the boundaries of England's counties and created "Metropolitan Counties" around the major cities (e.g. Merseyside around Liverpool): this caused significant public anger. Heath did not divide England into regions, choosing instead to await the report of the Crowther Commission on the constitution; the ten Government Office Regions were eventually set up by the Major government in 1994. His party lost the General Elections on 1974, after that he was again part of the opposition until he was overthrown by Margaret thatcher

Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music in England

B) Harold Wilson His government is quite dull, he is known mostly for the pensions he created and the deploy of the British Army in Ireland. He renounced due to its Alzheimers disease. C) James Callaghan Callaghan was the only Prime Minister to have held all three leading Cabinet positions Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary prior to becoming Prime Minister. During his first year in office, Callaghan started what has since become known as 'The Great Debate', when he spoke at Ruskin College, Oxford about the 'legitimate concerns' of a public about education as it took place in the nation's maintained schools. This discussion led to greater involvement of the government, through its ministries, in the curriculum and administration of state education, leading to the eventual introduction of the National Curriculum some ten years later. Callaghan's time as Prime Minister was dominated by the troubles in running a Government with a minority in the House of Commons: he was forced to make deals with minor parties in order to survive including the Lib-Lab pact, and he had been forced to accept referendums on devolution in Scotland and Wales (the former went in favour but did not reach the required majority, and the latter went heavily against). Despite these difficulties, by the autumn of 1978, most opinion polls showed Labour ahead, and the expectation grew that Callaghan would call an autumn election that would have given him a second term in office until autumn 1983. Famously, he strung along the opposition and was expected to make his declaration of election in a broadcast in early September 1978. His decision to go on was, at the time, seen by many as a sign of his domination of the political scene and he ridiculed his opponents by singing old-time music hall star Vesta Victoria's song "Waiting at the Church" at that month's Trades Union Congress meeting: now seen as one of the greatest moments of hubris in modern British politics, but celebrated at the time. Callaghan intended to convey the message that

Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music in England

he had not promised an election, but most observers misread his message as an assertion that he would call an election, and the Conservatives would not be ready for it. He was later censored and pushed to renounce by the people and both Houses due to the Winter of Discontent 1) Winter of discontent Callaghan's way of dealing with the long-term economic difficulties involved pay restraint which had been operating for four years with reasonable success. He gambled that a fifth year would further improve the economy and allow him to elected in 1979, and so attempted to hold pay rises to 5% or less. The trade unions rejected continued pay restraint and in a succession of strikes over the winter of 197879 (known as the Winter of Discontent) secured higher pay. The industrial unrest made his government extremely unpopular, and Callaghan's response to one interview question only made it worse. Returning to the United Kingdom from an economic summit held in Guadeloupe in early 1979, Callaghan was asked, "What is your general approach, in view of the mounting chaos in the country at the moment?" Callaghan replied, "Well, that's a judgement that you are making. I promise you that if you look at it from outside, and perhaps you're taking rather a parochial view at the moment, I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos." This reply was reported in The Sun under the headline "Crisis? What Crisis?". Callaghan also later admitted in regard to the Winter of Discontent that he had "let the country down" The Winter of Discontent saw Labour's performance in the opinion polls slump dramatically. They had topped most of the pre-winter opinion polls by several points, but in February 1979 at least one opinion poll was showing the Tories 20 points ahead of Labour and it appeared certain that Labour would lose the forthcoming election. Despite Labour's falling popularity and less than impressive record on the economy and unemployment, the Daily Mirror - a staunch Labour supporting newspaper - remained loyal to Callaghan and his government, urging its voters to re-elect them. On 28 March 1979, the House of Commons passed a Motion of No Confidence by one vote, 311310, which forced Callaghan to call a general election that was held on 3 May.[18] The Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher ran a campaign on the slogan "Labour isn't working" and won the election.

Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music in England

II. Punk This music style is known because of its violent and auto-destructive lyrics and radical ideology of their groups. 1) The Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols evolved from The Strand, a London band formed in 1972 with working-class teenagers Steve Jones on vocals, Paul Cook on drums, and Wally Nightingale on guitar. According to a later account by Jones, both he and Cook played on instruments they had stolen. The Strand evolve to The Sex Pistols in 1975.with the change of the name and the joining of Rotten. The first Sex Pistols gig to attract broader attention was as a supporting act for Eddie and the Hot Rods, a leading pub rock group, at the Marquee on 12 February 1976. Rotten "was now really pushing the barriers of performance, walking off stage, sitting with the audience, throwing Jordan across the dancefloor and chucking chairs around, before smashing some of Eddie and the Hot Rods' gear." The band's first review appeared in the NME, accompanied by a brief interview in which Steve Jones declared, "Actually we're not into music. We're into chaos."

On 4 July and 6 July, respectively, two newly formed London punk rock acts, The Clashwith Strummer as lead vocalistand The Damned, made their live debuts opening for the Sex Pistols. On their off night in between, the Pistols (despite Lydon's later professed disdain) showed up for a Ramones gig at Dingwalls, like virtually everyone else at the heart of the London punk scene. During a return Manchester engagement, 20 July, the Pistols premiered a new song, "Anarchy in the U.K.", reflecting elements of the radical ideologies to which Rotten was being exposed. According to Jon Savage, "there seems little doubt that Lydon was fed material by Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid, which he then converted into his own lyric." In 1977, Sid Vicious, which later will become the icon of punk, entered in the band due to the exit of Matlock. In this year, the single God Save the Queen is realeased. On 7 June, McLaren and the record label arranged to charter a

Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music in England

private boat and have the Sex Pistols perform while sailing down the River Thames, passing Westminster Pier and the Houses of Parliament. The event, a mockery of the Queen's river procession planned for two days later, ended in chaos. Police launches forced the boat to dock, and constabulary surrounded the gangplanks at the pier. While the band members and their equipment were hustled down a side stairwell, McLaren, Westwood, and many of the band's entourage were arrested. The same year, the only studio album of The Sex Pistols was released. The next year the band 2) The Clash Born as London SS in 1975, it became the clash in 1976 after it merged with London Underground. After rehearsing with Strummer for less than a month, The Clash made their debut on 4 July 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the Black Swan in Sheffield. The band apparently wanted to make it on-stage before their rivals in The Damnedanother London SS spinoffmade their own scheduled debut two days later. The Clash would not play in front of an audience again for another five weeks. Levene was becoming disaffected with his position in the group. At the Black Swan, he approached the Sex Pistols' lead singer, John Lydon (then going by Johnny Rotten), and suggested they get a band together if the Pistols ever broke up. They are known as one of the few left wing groups in the scene, and contrary to most groups of punk in the 70s, the outlive until well passed the 80s III. Impact in Already existing bands The environment in which England did not only created new bands and music styles, but also in already existent and consolidated bands A) Pink Floyd Pink Floyd was commonly known due to the eccentricities of Syd Barret, his founder and guitarist. Since they did live in England, unlike Rolling Stones, the influence of the 70s is noticed since The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) in the critic of the greed of society. Wish you were here (1975) is noted due to the

Bruno Tern Martnez 1528406 002106-084 Research Paper: The efecto of the goverment policies in the 70s music in England

nostalgic feeling, contrary of the critics of The Dark Side of the Moon, an this is due to the factor that people considered the 60s as better times and that they missed Barret. Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979), continued the trend of The Dark Side of the Moon, the first one was more punk biased while in the second one the influence begins to dimish in the melody but not in the lyrics. B) The Rolling Stones Since the Rolling Stones normally recorded outside of England due to the expensive that it was to do it there, most of its records dont actually influence on what happens in England. It was until Some Girls (1978) that the influence can be seen in songs like Shattered. Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=422797055 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=422764305 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=420024423 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=422669760 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=419104542 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=407909748 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=418452188 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=418874660 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=418631976 Henry, Tricia, Break All Rules!: Punk Rock and the Making of a Style, University of Michigan Press, 1989 D'Ambrosio, Antonino (2004). Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer (1st ed.). New York: Nation Books.