London Punk Fanzines 1976 1984 The Celeb

Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)
Mémoire de Master 1 Histoire-Anglais
Raphaëlle Dannus
“London Punk Fanzines 1976-1984: The Celebration of the Every Person”
Under the direction of Arnaud Page and François-Joseph Ruggiu
September 2013
1
Je tiens à remercier mes directeurs de mémoire, Messieurs Arnaud Page et François-Joseph
Ruggiu pour leur disponibilité, leurs corrections, leurs conseils, et leur patience.
Je tiens également à remercier Emily Parsons, archiviste de la collection Jon Savage de

l’Université de John Moores de Liverpool.
Ainsi que tous ceux qui m’ont aidée dans la réalisation de ce travail, et dans l’élaboration de
ma réflexion.
.
2
Table des matières
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 5
FIRST PART: THE EARLY YEARS OF THE LONDON PUNK SCENE, THE EMERGENCE
OF A DIY CULTURE: 1976-1977 ..................................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER 1 : THE RESPONSE OF YOUTH TO THE PREVAILING MUSICAL CULTURE ........................... 14
1.1 No Elvis, Beatles, or the ‘olli g Sto es : the 97 s usical sce e co sidered u exciti g
and inaccessible................................................................................................................................. 14
1.2 Birth and Flowering of an Participative Amateur and Fresh-Faced Punk Scene ................... 16
CHAPTER 2 : THE FIRST GENERATION OF LONDON PUNK FANZINES: THE FOUNDING OF AN
ALTERNATIVE MEDIA ............................................................................................................................. 22
2.1 Fanzines, DIY publications and amateur bands to boost the punk scene. .................................. 22
2.2 Fanzines and mainstream press .................................................................................................. 25
CHAPTER 3 : WHEN PUNK BECAME HIP: TOWARD A REDEFINITION OF THE LONDON PUNK SCENE31
3.1 Assimilation in the mainstream: the punk sub-culture decline .................................................. 31
3.2 The beginnings of new-wave / post-punk within the punk scene .............................................. 34
PART 2: THE INTEGRATION OF THE DIY PRACTICE BY POST-PUNK: 1978-1980 ........ 39
CHAPTER 1: THE CREATION OF INDEPENDENT INFRASTRUCTURES ..................................................... 40
1.1 The DIY ethic applied to music production ........................................................................... 40
1.2 Rough Trade as the main point of the alternative music scene ................................................. 44
CHAPTE‘ : PUNK S LEGACY: RENEWAL OF THE MUSIC SCENE IN PUNK POST MUSIC ................. 48
2.1 Is Punk Dead? Continual questionings about the state of punk in 1978 .................................... 48
2.2 Extensions of punk in the diversity of post-punk movement ..................................................... 51
CHAPTER 3 : PUNK POLITICS ............................................................................................................ 55
3.1 The absence of a uniform political line within the punk movement .......................................... 55
3.2 The punk scene as an anti-sexist and homo-friendly platform ................................................... 59
PART 3: MOVING FORWARD OR GIVE IT UP: PUNK’S LEGACY PUNK IN THE EARLY
1980S ..................................................................................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER 1 : RENEWAL AND PRESERVATION OF AN ALTERNATIVE MUSIC NETWORK..................... 63
1.1 The descendances of post-punk in the early 1980s .................................................................... 63
1.2 Renewal et preservation of fanzines ........................................................................................... 66
CHAPTER 2 : MUSIC AND DIY AS FORUM FOR POLITICAL CONTESTATION ....................................... 70
2.1. Music against the early years of the Thatcher government ...................................................... 70
2.2. The anarcho-punk anti-war movement: the DIY as political manifesto .................................... 74
3
CHAPTER 3 : THE INDEPENDENT NETWORK OF MUSIC PRODUCTION IN THE EARLY 1980S ................ 77
3.1 Survival of the independent firms until the end of the decade .................................................. 77
3.2 The impact of the advances made in technology on the DIY productions ................................. 79
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 82
ANNEXES................................................................................................................................................ 85
ANNEXE 1 : Sniffin'Glue, issue 1, July 1976, front page ........................................................................ 86
ANNEXE 2: Sniffin'Glue, issue 1, July 1976, page 3. .............................................................................. 87
ANNEXE 3: Sideburns, issue 1, January 1977, front page ..................................................................... 88
ANNEXE 4 : Chainsaw, issue 5, April 1978, front page .......................................................................... 89
ANNEXE 5: Jamming, issue 9, 1979, front page. ................................................................................... 90
ANNEXE 6: RIpped & Torn, issue 18, 1979, front page ......................................................................... 91
ANNEXE 7: All The Poets,, issue 2, 1980, front page ............................................................................. 92
ANNEXE 8: Toxic Graffitty, issue 3, June/July 1979, front page. ........................................................... 93
ANNEXE 9 : Fack, issue 5, 1980, page.11 ............................................................................................... 94
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 95
Ouvrages et articles généraux ............................................................................................................... 96
Ouvrages et articles spécialisés ............................................................................................................. 97
4
INTRODUCTION
5
“All you kids out there who read ‘SG’ don’t be satisfied with what we write. Go out
and start your own fanzines” wrote Mark Perry in his own fanzine “Sniffin Glue”1 published
in November 1976. Thus he encouraged all the lovers of what became known as punk rock to
create their own magazine, and ushered in a huge production of British punk fanzines.
The first wave of punk rock in Britain (1976-1978) didn’t last long, but this musical and
cultural movement brought the creation of a plethora of amateur groups, fanzines, little
independent record shops, record labels, clothes shops etc. Fanzines have been presented as
the very embodiment of the punk’s ethos of DIY (do-it-yourself) which encouraged people to
stop consuming a ready-made culture, and to create their own. These short amateur
magazines, hastily written, crudely photocopied and stapled together, were produced and
edited by fans for fans. They chronicled local and national punk scenes reporting critics of
gigs, interviews with bands, reviews of singles and various information and reflections on the
punk scene.
In order to quite understand this DIY approach, it is necessary to trace back the roots
of the punk movement. As for any cultural movement, the origins of punk are difficult to
recount; it gathers a multitude of influences. It is also tricky to define a cultural movement
that has always tried to avoid labels. At the beginning of the seventeenth-century, the term
“punk” was used to designate a prostitute. Hence the meaning of the word has changed, but it
has kept its unflattering connotations: it was successively used to designate a rotten piece of
wood, a criminal, a thug, or a passive male homosexual in prison slang. In North American,
"punk" is an informal word to name a worthless person, or an inexperienced young person.2
By 1965 in the United States, music critics started to call “punks” the bands of teenage boys
who performed “garage rock”. They played with cheap instruments a rough rock, marked by
high-octave distortions. The term came back in vogue in 1972 to name the savage and furious
rock music played by bands such as the MC5, the Stooges, and the Fugs which are now
defined as "proto-punk" bands. Then the bands of the New-York scene took inspiration from
them. The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie and the Ramones played a “trash
rock 'n' roll” which constituted a more immediate set of influences for the British punk rock.
Patti Smith composed linear songs leaning on a handful of chords; the power of her songs
leaned on their dynamics. The composition of Television's songs was more structured, and
1
Sniffin’ Glue : And Other Rock’n’roll Habits, issue 5, July 1976, p.2
2
Christophe PIRENNE, Une histoire musicale du rock, Paris : Fayard, 2011, p. 289
6
their chords and harmonies were more sophisticated. More than others, the Ramones laid
down the musical foundation of punk rock, reducing the songs to their quintessence: the songs
were very short, with no introduction, neither soli nor bridges, but a simple alternation of the
verses and of the chorus, played fast and very loud with a lot of distortions. The harmony was
very simple: only three chords, sometimes four, most of the times all the same.3 Thus garage
rock bands and proto-punk bands from New York played a spontaneous music,
unembellished, and which meant to be innovative: those are some aspects that determine the
DIY ethic.
Its appears that the punk aesthetic originated in American pop art, stemmed from
European Dadaism and especially from Marcel Duchamp.4 At the beginning of the twentieth
century, European art was shaken by Dadaism. This intellectual and artistic movement
brought a new poetry and a new aesthetic which rejected any moral, ideological or artistic
constraint. Provocative and terrorist, Dada lauded also confusion and spontaneity.
Paradoxically, this movement which was meant to be destructive produced durable works -
such as the writings by Tzara, Huelsenbeck and the paintings by Janco, Arp, and Richter -
which opened up new ways in contemporary art. To some extent, punk fanzines followed this
same trend, since they aimed to distruct commercial rock music and music press’ conventions
in order to build an innovative culture. Marcel Duchamp can be considered as one of the main
precursors of the punk aesthetic. He was the first to give to usual objects status of work of art
(Bottle-Rack 1914, Fountain 1917), and inspired American pop art. He especially inspired
Andy Warhol who extolled the beauty of usual and industrial objects (Campbell's Soup Cans,
1962). Lou Reed was a friend and an admirer of Andy Warhol. His band The Velvet
Underground was one of the founding bands of the punk aesthetic, playing energetic and
amateur songs. The subjects of his songs were taken up then by the British punk rock bands:
the life of drug addicts, the girls on the street, the homosexuals and the transvestites, and
sadomasochism enthusiasts (Heroin (1965), Sister Ray (1967)), often treated with sarcasm
and linked up to the meaning of life and to the frustrations of adolescence. Simultaneously,
pub rock developed in London around young bands that mixed original compositions and
blues classics and rhythm 'n' blues together, playing in a very fast and energetic way: their
will to turn back to music close to its audience anticipated the emergence of punk rock. As the
Sex Pistols’ manager, Malcolm McLaren marketed the punk rock in London. He was
3
Ibid.
4
Vincent LAUFER, F.C & Michka ASSAYAS, “Punk-rock”, pp. 1484-1490 in Michka ASSAYAS (ed.),
Dictionnaire du rock : blues, country, folk, pop, reggae, rock indépendant, soul, Paris : Robert Laffont, 2000
7
impressed by the energy of the New York scene. As the former manager of the New York
Dolls, he observed the bands playing at the CBGB’s and at Max’s in New York, and he
especially took inspiration from Richard Hell’s style who wore clothes with holes, patched up
with safety pins. When Malcolm McLaren came back to London in 1975, he opened the shop
“Sex” in King’s Road with his friend Vivienne Westwood. They sent there t-shirts with holes,
decorated with safety pins, leather clothes inspired from sadomasochist dress, and bondage
pants (trousers with the two legs linked with straps). They created a provocative style with
bits and pieces, which was very simple to imitate and to realize oneself. After the separation
of the New York Dolls in 1975, Malcolm McLaren started to create a similar project: he
gathered four youngsters (John Lydon, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones, and Paul Cook) who were
hanging around his shop and created with them a band which came to be known as the Sex
Pistols. Using the scandal and the provocation as a real communication strategy, Malcolm
McLaren led the Sex Pistols to success and took the punk into the British public
consciousness. In fact, at the end of November 1976, the Sex Pistols and some of their
followers made an impromptu appearance on an early evening chat show on Thames
Television, where they answered the questions of the programme’s host, Bill Grundy by
sneering and swearing. This interview only last a few minutes, but it caused a media uproar.
They headlined tabloid’s newspapers, with titles such as “The Filth and the Fury”, the BBC
refused to play their songs, and EMI took their single “Anarchy in the UK” out of the market.
Meanwhile, in New York the journalist Legs McNeil gave the name Punk to the magazine
created by John Holmstrom. In august 1976, the Clash gave their first concert in London, and
the first punk festival was organised in France at Mont-de-Marsan, with among others bands
the Damned. Thus this violent, sarcastic and amateur rock music, started to flourish about
anywhere in Europe. The various influences mentioned previously can be found in all these
bands: their music is characterized by dissonances, guitar distortions, played very fast with
lyrics which evoked the despair, unemployment, or the hardness of city life.
It must be noted that the punk exploded at a moment when the climate was particularly
morose in Great-Britain. Dick Hebdige considered that the young English punks “were
dramatizing what had come to be called ‘Britain’s decline’”5 through their clothes, their
music, and their attitudes. At the beginning of the 1970’s, Great-Britain had to face an
inflation rose which reached 25% in 1975. Unemployment raised up from 540000
5
HEBDIGE Dick, Subculture : the meaning of style, London : Routledge, cop. 2003, p.87.
8
unemployed in 1974, to 1 250 000 in 1976.6 That unemployment affected young people with
nearly 727000 unemployed between 16 and 24 years old in the mid-eighties, that is to say
almost a third of the overall number of unemployed people.7 The British economy was in fact
declining. The industry was harshly affected by the crises, and hired only 6 500 000 persons
at the end of the seventies. Thus the idea of “Britain’s decline” was a central issue. Edward
Heath’s Conservative government responded to the crisis by a policy of spending controls and
wage restraints and had to face all-out strikes of miners and railwaymen. After the
Conservatives were defeated at the elections of 1974, Harold Wilson, and then Callaghan,
didn't manage to improve the country’s situation, and the Labour’s government finally applied
again the policies of its predecessors. In 1976 and 1977, the rise of wages remained inferior to
the rise of prices, and there were successive strikes. So, the mid-seventies in Great-Britain
were marked by a climate of economic crisis and social tensions. During the Notting Hill
Carnival of the summer of 1976, the anger and the frustrations of the African Caribbean
youth, and of some white youngsters, turned against the police in running street battles.
In this situation, it is quite understandable that the contemporary commentators
described the punk music as “the expression of a generation that has been dispossessed and
disowned”8. Bill Osgerby qualified these remarks in noticing that “the bulk of those who
frequented early punk clubs like the Roxy and the Vortex tended to be art students and
middle-class youngsters from London’s commuter belt”.9 However, the punk movement
reached a larger public than these earliest followers, especially after the “first wave” of punk
rock, that is, after 1976. Even if we can not go so far as to say that the punk music was a
“dole-queue rock” (Marsh, quoted by Osbergy, 1977), it appears that punk rock gave to
youngsters a let-out from an oppressing mood marked by the crisis of the mid-1970s. This
movement was within reach of everyone, first because of the punk rock’s musical simplicity.
For instance, the harmony of the single “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols is extremely
simple: the song is mainly based on C, F, E minor and G chords, the vocal range is very
narrow -only a minor third-, and the accompaniment by the guitar, the percussion and the bass
is basic.10 In January 1977, the first issue of the fanzine Sideburn included a diagram of three
6
BENSIMON Fabrice, “Chapitre 24-La Grande-Bretagne contemporaine, 1945-1979. ”, pp. 826-829 in
LEBECQ Stéphane, Histoire des îles Britanniques, Paris : Presses universitaires de France, 2007
7
OSGERBY Bill, « Youth Culture », p.135 in ADDISON Paul & JONES Harriet (ed.) A companion to
contemporary Britain, 1939-2000, Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2007
8
OSGERBY Bill, Youth in Britain since 1945, Oxford ; Malden : Blackwell, 1998, p. 107.
9
Ibid.
10
Anarchy in the UK, The Sex Pistols, EMI, London, 1976
9
guitar chords and announced: “This is a chord. This is another. This is a third. Now form a
band”11. Fanzines embodied also the punk rejection of the charts supplied by the music
industry. In fact, according to Stephen Duncombe: “zinesters privilege the ethic of DIY, do-it-
yourself, make your own culture and stop consuming that which is made for you”12
And yet the current bibliography focused above all on major bands and figures of the
movement and on the first punk wave (1975/6-1978): for instance Jon Savage’s writings are a
standard reference work on the punk movement, but they focus only on the Sex Pistols.13
Some aspects of the punk movement have been deeply analysed: in Lipstick Traces: a secret
history of the twentieth century, Greil Marcus links up the punk movement, the avant-garde
art and the Situationist movement together.14 The relations between punk and questions of
15
races have been reached, notably by Stephen Duncombe and Maxwell Tremblay. More
recently punk’s cultural legacy -in literature, art, comics and cinema as well as in music and
fashion- has been the subject of studies, some of which have been gathered by Roger Sabin in
Punk Rock: So What? The Cultural Legacy of Punk.16 Punk fanzines have not been the subject
of detailed studies, except for some works concentrating on their graphic aspect.17 They are
briefly mentioned or quoted in general writings on punk. Comprehensive works on
fanzines18or on the alternative press19 devotes some passages to punk fanzines. Some writings
can be found on the German punk fanzines20, but oddly the punk fanzines from London, the
birthplace of the European punk, constituted underused sources.
The study of fanzines enables us to have an insight point of view to punk culture;
moreover they had a particularly significant role in this movement. In his work on fanzines,
Stephen Duncombe considers that fanzines “celebrate the everyperson in a world of celebrity.
11
Sideburns, issue 1, January 1977, p. 2
12
Stephen DUNCOMBE, Notes from Underground : Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture, London:
Verso, 1997, p. 7
13
Jon SAVAGE, England’s Dreaming : Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, London: Faber, 1991
14
Greil MARCUS, Lipstick traces : a secret history of the twentieth century, London : Secker and Warburg,
1989
15
Stephen DUNCOMBE and Maxwell TREMBLAY, White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race,
London:Verso, 2011
16
Roger SABIN (ed), Punk Rock: So What? The Cultural Legacy of Punk London, New York : Routledge, 1999
17
Roger SABIN and Teal TRIGGS, "Scissors and Glue: Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic",
Journal of Design History, vol. 19, n° 1, 2006
TRIGGS Teal, "Alphabet Soup, reading British fanzines", Visible Language, vol.29, no. 1, 1995, pp.72-87
18
Stephen DUNCOMBE, Op.Cit, 1997
19
Chris ATTON, Alternative Media, London: Thousand Oaks; New Delhi: SAGE, 2002
20
Christian SCHMIDT, « Meanings of fanzines in the beginning of Punk in the GDR and FRG », Volume !, 5 :
1, 2006, pp. 47-72
10
Losers in a society that rewards the best and the brightest”21. This dissertation borrows his
words and will try to quite understand the meaning of the punk movement for the frustrated
English youth of the mid-1970s. How, with three chords and photocopiers, did the punk fans
became the creators of their own culture? This dissertation will propose an analysis of a
section of the English youth in a context of cultural, political and social change through its
own testimony.
The main difficulty of this dissertation was to identify, to list and to find the primary
sources. Fanzines are scattered in various archives: private collections, little zines library,
museums... London’s Victoria and Albert Museum recently finished cataloguing its new
collection of punk fanzines. The National Library of Scotland started to collect various
fanzines. Some universities have also recently started to constitute their own fanzine archives.
Jon Savage's Archives in the Liverpool John Moores University gathers numerous fanzines
and other sources relative to punk culture; these archives provided the primary research
resource for this thesis. However this collection gathers documents about the first wave of
punk rock. Some fanzines of the 1980’s have been digitized by their owners and can be found
on line. The music publications such as magazines Sound, the New Musical Express, the
Melody Maker constitutes secondary sources that provided a more critical view of the punk
community. However, numerous interviews can be found in compilation books, among others
Jon Savage’s book.22
First and foremost, this thesis will show how all the earliest followers of the punk
movement are led to participate actively and how the audience started to be particularly
productive, in recounting this “start of a huge wave of interesting papers”23. From 1978, while
the punk culture became progressively integrated into the mainstream culture, the young
punks tried to retain control of the movement which seemed to be slipping through their
fingers. They tried to maintain their community and to define it notably through the fanzines.
While the punk movement seemed to be nearly over in 1978, the impact of its DIY ethic
started to appear clearly. In fact post-punk truly applied the DIY practice, and set up its own
alternative music industry. Post Punk tried to democratize music production, by making it
accessible to anyone. Thus, a study of the fanzines published between 1979 and 1984 enables
us to understand how this DIY and alternative music scene remained until the 1980s; notably
21
Stephen DUNCOMBES, Op.Cit., p.7.
22
Jon SAVAGE, The England’s Dreaming Tapes, London: Faber and Faber, 2009
23
White Stuff , issue 1, London, February 1977, p. 2
11
it found a new dynamic by offering a forum for political protest during the first years of
Margaret Thatcher era.
12
FIRST PART: THE EARLY YEARS OF THE LONDON PUNK SCENE, THE
EMERGENCE OF A DIY CULTURE: 1976-1977
13
CHAPTER 1 : THE RESPONSE OF YOUTH TO THE PREVAILING
MUSICAL CULTURE
“The Pistols are the most important rock group in Britain at the moment. […] They’re
going to give the music scene what it needs-a good kick up the throat. Most kids have never
experienced a feeling of unity between audience and performer. They’ve never had an idle
(sic) who was on their level, I mean, how many kids have been to the South of France?”24 As
Mark Perry expressed it in his fanzine Sniffin’Glue, young people of the mid-1970s were tired
of the rock stars, and were looking for idols that could correspond to their generation. They
found them in The Sex Pistols, one of the leading punk rock bands, who dismantled the
conventions of rock music by creating a chaotic sound, of which the musical simplicity
contrasted with the meticulous rock which prevailed at that time. Rejecting a musical culture
which they could not identify with, some young people started to create their own music, and
set up around it a culture seeking to be independent from the industrial one.
1.1 ‘No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones’25: the 1970s musical scene considered
unexciting and inaccessible
In the early 1970s, the Beatles’ legacy seemed to have “vanished in the haze”26:
whereas the four young boys from Liverpool had given the world the impression that anyone
starting with nothing could become an international star, the early 1970s rock appeared to be
completely inaccessible. The success of “progressive rock” at that time, which was a
particularly elaborate music, has partly contributed to the development of this feeling.
In fact, since 1969 progressive rock bands dominated the sales, the charts, and the
readers’ ranking. Bands such as Emerson, Lake and Palma (ELP), Yes, King Morison, Jethro
Tull, Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, or The Eagles met unequalled success for nearly a
decade. Progressive rock was very complex musically in its composition. It mingled
24
Sniffin’Glue, issue 6, January 1977, page 3.
25
1977, The Clash, CBS Record, London, March 1977.
26
Help!, The Beatles, EMI Record, London, July 1965.
14
symphony music with jazz, romantic melodies, Indian music, repetitive music, hard rock,
blues and folk.27 This music progressively acquired a bad reputation due to the taste it had
sometimes for pomposity and musical virtuosity, with lyrics tinged with mystic images from
science-fiction. Its success gave the audience the impression that instrumental mastery was an
essential condition to practice rock’ n’ roll, and that years of music experience were required
to form a band. In an interview given to the fanzine Sideburns in January 1977, Jett Black,
drummer and founder of the punk band The Stranglers, explains that the quest for a perfect
technical mastery, similar to the guitarist Jimi Hendrix’s, was an obstacle: “I think that
technical ability had gone as far as it was going to go at that time- the time had arrived when
we felt that we should look for something totally different, as opposed to pure technical
ability, because I don’t think you could surpass what HE [Jimi Hendrix] was doing.”28
Progressive rock bands tried to reach the excellence in producing a really neat sound: Pink
Floyd spent eight months in four different studios polishing up the recording of their album
The Wall (1979).29 Since the beginning of the decade, recording studios equipped themselves
with sophisticated technologies: such a recording was therefore very expensive. Besides,
handling these technologies was considered necessary to produce a competent recording; it
was another skill to acquire to make music. Then these bands had to invest in costly sound
equipment to reproduce the sound of their recording in live concerts. Usually the large record
companies provided the required funds.30 Thus progressive rock could appear to be a product
of music industry. Therefore for the majority of the audience, the practice of rock’ n’ roll
music seemed financially inaccessible too.
Consequently, some of the young people could not see themselves in this music which
is often presented in rock history as pretentious and bombastic. Emerson, Lake & Palmer
spent considerable sums of money to rent a symphony orchestra composed of seventy
musicians for their tour in 1977.31 This opulence might have been exasperating for people
who were indirectly affected by the consequences of the early 1970s economic crisis. Some of
the youth started to reject the model of the unattainable “rock star” who did not seem to share
their lifestyle and their frustrations. Tony D, the founder of the fanzine Ripped & Torn
27
Vincent LAUFER, F.C & Michka ASSAYAS, “Progressive (Musique)”, pp. 1474-1475 in Michka ASSAYAS
(ed.), Dictionnaire du rock : blues, country, folk, pop, reggae, rock indépendant, soul, Paris : Robert Laffont,
2000.
28
Sideburns, issue 1, January 1977, page 7.
29
Christophe PIRENNE, Une histoire musicale du rock, Paris : Fayard, 2011, p. 286.
30
Dave LAING, “Interpreting Punk Rock”, Marxism Today, April 1978, p. 124.
31
Christophe PIRENNE, Op. Cit., 2011, p. 287.
15
indicates this in an article titled “Can ‘rich’ stars rock?”: “It makes you fucking puke when
you think of those boring cunts (like the whole of Led Zeppelin, the Who, Paul McCartney,
Stevie Wonder etc) lazing away in some hot tropical paradise, whilst us poor punters have to
make do with any shit they care to pour on us”32. The 1970s rock scene was still marked by
groups from the 1960s such as the Who and the Rolling Stones who represented the previous
generation for the youth of the mid-1970s. Nick Mobbs from EMI, who signed with the Sex
Pistols, was aware of the desire of some of the youth to find new idols: “To a lot of kids the
Stones and groups from that era don't mean a thing. They're too old for a start, all over 30, and
the kids want some young people they can identify with”33. From 1972, glam rock was
successful with a very young audience, by offering a return to a provocative and excessive
rock’ n’ roll. Glam rock magnified the dramatization of rock, with musicians performing in
eccentric and androgynous clothes. However this music was extremely referential and not that
much innovative; in 1975 the glam fashion was over.34 At the same time, hard rock started to
become a full genre with leading bands such as Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple, but it was also
focused on grandiloquence and sound power.35
Thus between the bombast of progressive music and hard rock, and the theatrical
excess of glam rock, the 1970s rock scene suffered from an excess of sophistication, to the
point where it became too conventional for some people, and wearisome: “People are fed up
about hearing the state that rock is in and are listening to more jazz and even reggae”, a reader
of Sounds from London complains in a letter sent to the magazine.36 Thus, some kids stop
waiting for the music industry to produce a culture that could fit them, and brought
themselves the breath of fresh air the rock scene needed.
1.2 Birth and Flowering of an Participative Amateur and Fresh-Faced Punk Scene
Some young people reacted to commercial rock by starting their own rock scene.
London punk scene, following and influenced by pub-rock, started forming itself around
amateur bands, small labels, distributors, concert halls, record shops and fanzines. In this
32
Ripped & Torn, issue 1, November 1976, p.5.
Typing errors and spelling mistakes from the fanzines are transcribed as seen.
33
Nick MOBBS quoted in Melody Maker, November 6 1976, p. 1.
34
Vincent LAUFER, F.C & Michka ASSAYAS, op. cit, 2000, “Glam rock”, pp.691-692.
35
Ibid., “Hard rock”, pp.755-756.
36
Sounds, 31July 1976.
16
new culture built around accessible music, everyone was expected to participate and boost
the emerging punk scene. 37
In the beginning of the 1970s, amateur bands, performing in pubs, turned back to a
simple and spontaneous rock. Pub-rock was the result of mixed influences, going from
original rock’n’roll and rythm’n’blues to country music. Often under-estimated, the
influence pub-rock had on the birth of London punk rock was yet very significant, mainly
38
because of its lack of sophistication. As an example, many punk artists such as The
Clash’s Joe Strummer, Ian Dury or Elvis Costello started their careers in pub-rock bands.
Likewise, concert halls like Camden Town’s Hope & Anchor or the Nashville in West
Kensigton would later be recognized as emblematic punk places. The link between pub-
rock and London punk-rock is clearly shown in punk fanzines: in its second issue,
39
Sideburns published a long interview with Dr Feelgood, a famous pub rock band. In
December of 1976, the Sex Pistols appeared on TV for a live interview in which guitarist
Steve Jones replied to announcer Bill Grundy’s rudeness by insulting him of «dirty
fucker» and «fucking rotter». The «Grundy incident» made the Pistols hit the headlines,
with articles titled «The Filth and the Fury» (Daily Mirror) or «The Bizarre face of Punk
Rock» (Daily Telegraph). This event led the punk rock scene to mainstream fame, enabled
small bands to get attention, and motivated others to start. By their lack of musical
mastery, young age and modest background, the Sex Pistols sent to the youth an
approachable image of rock music. Their audience included the future main characters of
the punk scene: “they saw the Pistols at Manchester in June and from then on the
Buzzcocks thought they could do better by just getting up on stage and singing about
“supermarkets” and “boredom” […] It really shows the effect of the Pistols on audience
when bands at-art forming out of them”40 Several bands emerged under the influence of
the Sex Pistols, such as The Clash, The Damned, The Slits, The Advert... These amateur
bands are made of «kids»: The members of Eater, “the youngest band on the scene”41,
37
The term "punk scene" reflects better the diversity of the movement than "punk community". The concept of
"music scene" refers to a network of people (musicians, producers, supporters), objects (fanzines, records,
instruments), devices (festivals, CDs, instruments), and various places (concert halls, pubs, record and clothes
stores).
Fabien HEIN, “Le DIY comme dynamique contre-culturelle? L’exemple de la scène punk rock”, Volume! [En
ligne], 2012, mis en ligne le 15 juin 2014, consulté le 20 novembre 2012. URL : http://volume.revues.org/3055]
38
Vincent LAUFER, F.C & Michka ASSAYAS, Op. Cit, 2000, “Pub rock”, pp.691-692.
39
Sideburns, issue 2, February 1977, p.7
40
Sniffin’Glue, issue 4, October 1976, p.5.
41
Sniffin’Glue, issue 6, January 1977, p.9.
17
were only between 15 and 16. As a result, teenagers found in punk bands idols they could
relate to: “the band are kids of our age and us kids-clappin’ and jeerin’, boppin’ and
yellin’-are just as important as them. They’re playing for us. They reflect the way we live,
our whole lifestyles”42.
Those «kids» took over the punk scene, dealing in their songs with the social problems
they were having, in the mid-1970s context of crisis and increasing social inequality.
Since the end of the 1960s, British economy was in recession, with 1.5 million
unemployed in 1975, most of them being young people. 43 The British government tried a
policy of decreased public expenses and lower salaries, with no success: Inflation and
unemployment kept increasing, inflaming the already bad social tensions. A series of
violent events occurred, in the violent and xenophobic society that was Great Britain in
the mid-1970s. The neo-fascist National Front party (NF) was increasingly active and
successful.44 Interracial tensions and mistrust between police and immigrant communities
erupted during clashes between police officers and young Afro-Caribbean, during the
1976 Carnival in Notting Hill. The mid-1970s was also marked by a wave of bombings
orchestrated by the IRA45, causing the death of a famous surgeon in 1977, and killing the
leading conservative politician Airey Neave in 1979.46 This morose atmosphere shows
itself, according to Hebdige, in the punk dressing style, representation of the “British
Decline”: « The various stylistic ensembles adopted by the punks were undoubtedly
expressive of genuine aggression, frustration and anxiety »47
In this strong context of crisis, punk music introduced social and politic matters in
rock music, which were never brought by progressive rock or glam rock: “The Pistols
reflect life as it is in the council flats, not some fantasy world that most rock artists
create »48. Their songs would deal with monarchy (Sex Pistols-“God Save the Queen”),
the riots of Notting Hill Carnival (The Clash – “White Riot”), the unemployment (The
Clash – “1977”), or the image of an apocalyptic rebellion ( The Clash - “London Calling”
or the Sex Pistols – “Anarchy in the UK”). Thus for some young British, punk music was
42
Sniffin’Glue, issue 5, November 1976, p.3.
43
Ryan MOORE, “Postmodernism & Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Destruction”, The
Communication Review, 2004, pp.305-327.
44
Arthur MARWICK, British Society Since 1945, London: Penguin Books, 1996, p.240.
45
Irish Republican Army: republican paramilitary organization seeking the establishment of a republic, the end
of British rule in Northern Ireland, and the reunification of Ireland.
46
Arthur MARWICK, Op.Cit., 1996, p.240.
47
Dick HEBDIGE, op. cit, 2003, p.87.
48
18
a forum to express their ideas and frustration: "They’re reality […]. Life’s about concrete,
the sinking pound, apathetic boring people and the highest unemployment figures ever”49.
Punk scene started to form around rare and small concert halls where amateur groups
performed (the Hope & Anchor in Camden Town, or the Nashville in West Kensington.
Other small clubs, like the 100 Club, the Hammersmith Odeon or the Marquee were the
main London punk concert halls in the beginning of the movement. For instance, the Sex
Pistols often performed at the 100 Club ever since April 1976.50 Those concert halls were
very often small and poorly equipped. Technical incidents, low quality sound, and largely
insufficient equipment were the norm, such as described in many instances in fanzines.
This matched the punk spirit, far from rock-stars grandiloquence, and can explain why
punk culture was so close to its audience and very accessible. As a consequence, punk-
bands were often asked in fanzine interviews: “If you gained a big following and the
critics acclaimed you, would you play large places like the Rainbow?”51 At first sight,
they did not intend to play in large concert halls: “the best thing we could do if we found
ourselves with lots of money would be to open a club like the Roxy where kids could get
up and do what they want to do!”52 The Roxy Club, 41 Neal Street in Covent Garden, was
the first punk club in London. This small, low-ceiling place enabled amateur bands to
perform, with no skill requirement whatsoever. That is how the Adverts, Eater, Chelsea,
the Cortinas, Slaughter and the Dogs, the Damned, or the Stranglers had their first
performances, while they had barely any musical skill. After the Grundy incident, very
few concert halls were willing to let punk bands perform, knowing how violent and
destructive these bands could be. Many incidents nurtured this bad reputation: during the
1976 punk Festival at the 100 Club, Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) throwing a beer glass in the
audience, injured many people, and especially blinded a young girl in one eye. As a
consequence, the Sex Pistols were banned from the Marquee, the Nashville, the
Dingwalls, and eventually from the 100 Club.53 Punk bands could also perform in the
street, in college’s concourses, or in art schools.54 Contrary to progressive rock bands,
49
50
51
Skum, issue 1, early 1977, p.3.
52
48 Thrills, issue 2, early 1977, p.4.
53
54
Sideburns, issue 1, January 1977, p.3.
19
who spent important amounts of money to produce neat studio albums, punk bands
recorded their discs in small and inexpensive studios.
Their tapes and discs were usually made and distributed by local entrepreneurs or
record shop owners55. As well, a few small and artistically independent record labels
enabled punk bands to make and distribute their recordings. Before 1977, only two
completely independent labels -in terms of finance and distribution- were producing punk
bands: Chiswick and Stiff Records, launched in 1975 and 1976 along with the pub-rock
movement. 56 In January 1977, the Buzzcocks launched their first EP «Spiral Scratch» in a
DIY way, starting their own label called New Hormones. They financed the studio
recording and discs production by borrowing money from friends and family. The design
of the record cover is consistent with the means of production: the cover shows a Polaroid
photo of the four members of the group tight against each other to take part in the frame.
Three hours of recording and two hours of mixing were enough to produce the single. The
result accurately matched the atmosphere of live concerts: “The Buzzcocks are a really
hard driving band, and this EP really does do justice to the energy that they create on
stage”57. At this time, no large independent distribution network existed. The Buzzcocks
knew the manager of Manchester’s Virgin store, who convinced his fellow region
managers to order the disc. Otherwise, labels used local disc shops which would do mail
order selling. Rough Trade, before it became a label in 1978, was a record shop in
Landbroke Grove. Teenagers could stroll there and listen to music. Just as clothing shop
SEX in King’s Road -run by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, Rough Trade
became a place of gathering for the punk youth. Those record shops were also a point of
sale for numerous fanzines since 1976.
Frustrated and tired of the bombastic and perfectionism turn that took rock, young
punks first started playing music like them, and so started the emergence of an
underground music scene which had been anticipated by pub-rock. With its musical
simplicity, punk rock music was available to any young person who wanted to get into the
music: each concert converted new people, and encourage new bands to form. The punk
movement thus erased the boundaries between musicians and fans. The movement found
its momentum in the values of accessibility and participation embodied in the motto "Do it
55
Dave LAING, Op.Cit, April 1978.
56
Simon REYNOLDS, Rip it up and start again: post-punk 1978-1984, Paris: Ed. Allia, 2007, p.132.
57
20
yourself", and therefore started growing extremely quickly. Driven by a desire to
participate in the development of "their" music scene, fans created and developed also
early in the movement their own music publishing.
21
CHAPTER 2 : THE FIRST GENERATION OF LONDON PUNK
FANZINES: THE FOUNDING OF AN ALTERNATIVE MEDIA
Stephen Duncombes defined fanzines as « noncommercial, nonprofessional, small-

circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish, and distribute by themselves »58.
Their editors « privilege the ethic of DIY, do-it-yourself: make your own culture and stop
consuming that which is made for you”59. Young people created their own culture through
punk music; therefore they created their own music press to cover the emergence of the
underground scene. Their amateur publications showed their willingness to become full
participants in the punk movement. Covering all the London punk scene, and constantly
encouraging readers to get involved, the first generation of punk fanzines in London fully
contributed to the dynamism of the emerging movement. Defining itself against the current of
the mainstream press, alternative media network consolidates the DIY ethic as the main
component of the punk movement. Fanzines are defined in opposition to the mainstream
press; this alternative media network consolidates the DIY ethic as the main component of the
punk movement.
2.1 Fanzines, DIY publications and amateur bands to boost the punk scene.
In alternative press history, fanzines first occur as a distinct media during the 1930s.
Originally, fanzines were magazines written and shared by science-fiction fans, who could by
this way communicate with each other, share science-fiction stories and critics. From then,
fanzines became a communication channel for various underground communities, in music,
football, or TV shows.Fanzines dealing with the punk movement were particularly abundant.
The first generation of punk fanzines, following the DIY way of the amateur bands, would
narrate the punk scene and encourage its readers to participate. They were a significant
element of the punk movement.
Sniffin’Glue, launched in July 1976 by Mark Perry, is considered the first punk fanzine
in England. Mark Perry started it very simply and cheaply: after he attended a concert with the
Ramones in London, he felt the momentum the punk movement were getting, and wanted to
be involved in it. Noticing that there was no English magazine dealing with the emerging
58
Stephen DUNCOMBES, Op.Cit., 1997, p.11.
59
Ibid., p7.
22
punk-rock, he decided to create one of his own, “just for a laugh”. He wrote the 8-pages first
issue in an evening, using a typing machine for children. The title “Sniffin’Glue and other
rock’n’roll habits” came from one of the Ramones’ song “Now I wanna sniff some glue”.
Using an old copier, his girlfriend made 50 copies of the first issue. Mark Perry took them to
Rock On, a record shop in Soho, where the owner lent him money to produce 200 more
copies. All the copies were sold in one week. Mark then left his job as a bank clerk to produce
the second issue.60 This way, Mark started his “punk journalism” from scratch. A lowly punk
fan, he quickly became the main chronicler of the punk scene. A multitude of punkzines then
appeared. In the UK, with at least a dozen in London: “After Mark P. told everyone to go out
and start their own fanzines, there’s been a complete surge of them…”61 Those fanzines, in
the way they are produced, their graphic aspect, and their content, are amateur publications
and DIY, following the lead of Sniffin’Glue. They are written with typewriters, or even
handwritten, and often violate the typographic rules by combining the two in the same issue.
As an example, Shane MacGowan started his fanzine Bondage by fully writing it by hand:
“Sorry it’s all hand-written but I haven’t got a typewriter. Anyway, anybody who uses a
typewriter is a GIRL.”62 It is therefore not even necessary to have a typewriter: a pen, paper, a
copier and staples or safety pins to connect the pages are sufficient. As well as Mark Perry,
any fan has the opportunity to launch its zine: it is not necessary to know how to write or have
experience in journalism. These amateur publications are also visual and literary incarnation
of punk music because they retranscribe its gross appearance, aggressive and with no frills.
They are covered with typing and spelling mistakes, and corrections are left exposed.
Fanzines created between 1976 and early 1977 have the same format: most of them follow
that of Sniffin 'Glue. They are made in no more than a dozen pages of A4, bound with staples,
and are roughly reproduced in black and white copiers. As the punk scene grew, they became
more fleshed out, and had a most varied content, including poems and photo collages of
pictures taken from other magazines and comics. They followed some general characteristics
of mainstream magazines: a title, a cover page, an editorial on the second page or in the
middle of the fanzine, a summary and an address to contact the editor. However, layouts were
chaotics: pages were sometimes overloaded with text placed in all directions, or conversely,
they may have undue white, loosely filled with scribbles: “I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO
60
Legs MCNEIL and Gillian MCCAIN, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, London: Little,
Brown & Co, 1996, Chapter 5.
61
Skum, issue 1, Early 1977, p.2.
62
Bondage, issue 1, 1976, p.7.
23
PUT HERE SO I WROTE THIS!”63 Excerpts from press articles and images were often
pasted across pages, and made fun of. As an example, the cover of the first issue of Chainsaw
represented several national newspapers clippings describing punk as a violent and disturbing
movement, pasted around a photo of the Sex Pistols : “THIS is the truth about Punk Rock, the
freaky cult about Britain. For man weeks a Sunday People Team of investigators has probed
this bizarre business. […] It is sick. It is dangerous. It is sinister. And their findings are a
warning to every family.”64 These processes of "hijacking" and "reclaiming", used to criticize
contemporary society, are also found in other artistic movements such as Dadaism or
International Situationism.
By regularly chronicling the punk scene and encouraging their readers to take part,
fanzines fully contributed to the development and momentum of the movement. Fanzines
published in London and its suburbs contained a wealth of information helping fans keeping
track with the London punk news: they served as "practical guides" for punk music fans.
These fanzines contained album reviews, singles and punk concert recordings, interviews,
various events around the movement, as well as information about concert dates. This way,
they ensured coverage of the underground scene. For example, Skum exposed little-known
punk bands in its articles: « there are a lot of new bands who are completely unheard of,
because the music press is preoccupied with the Pistols, […] so I’m trying to produce a mag
which mainly deals with these new bands, as well as the others.”65 Within the punk
movement, fanzines also had a mediator role. Through them, readers could get discs or
cassettes, or post ads to find a musician for example. As well, young bands could send their
recordings to fanzines and get free advertising. But the real difference made by fanzines was
the fact that they allowed and encouraged their readers to participate: “we’re gonna try to do a
bit for the scene but it’s all up to you-the kids (and of course, the guys who feel young).”66
Readers were invited to contribute by sending articles, photos, drawings, or any kind of
suggestion. They would also help the writer get information he didn’t have, such as the name
of a band’s member. As a result, fanzines installed an equal relationship between writers and
readers, as stated by Mark Perry: “I can’t spell, I wouldn’t win any awards for literature but at
least I don’t write down to yer!”67 Thus, fanzines defined and conveyed what became the main
63
Sniffin’Glue, issue 1, July 1976, p.5.
64
Chainsaw, issue 1, 1977, p.1.
65
Skum, issue 1, Early 1977, p.2.
66
67
24
feature of punk: the idea that anyone is able to act and contribute. This praise of the action and
participation led to a curse of passivity, and apathy became the bane of punk: “YOU’VE got
to do something […] For Christ’s sake don’t ever be satisfied. Apathy kills the spirit, if you
like something great! But don’t sit back satisfied make a bit of noise, if you like sell’s out,
make a lot of noise.”68 If all the fanzines embodied and conveyed the motto of DIY, each
publication was tinged with the personality of its creator and thus had its own identity. We
saw the main characteristics of the first punk fanzines, however each publication varied
depending on the bands covered, the thoughts of the writer, his humor, or his graphic
choices.For example, the fanzine Jolt, created by Lucy Toothpaste, focused on punk groups
composed of women, and provided thoughts on the place of women in the punk movement.
The fanzine also offered quite varied content, including, in its second issue, an interview of
young people who opened a clothing store in Brixton Road, or a report of a discussion group
organized by the International Marxist Group.69 The fanzine Skum included in its pages
cartoons made by its creator "Mjs." Some other details also contributed to the personalization
of fanzines: 48 Thrills was characterized by the remarks and jokes Adrien Thrill scrawled on
the edges of the pages, that made fun of the reader: “what ? Are you still reading THIS ? This
is the last page y’know…”70 Sandy Robertson’s White Stuff focused on Patti Smith, while
covering other groups of American and British punk. With its long reflections on the role of
punk in the evolution of rock’n’roll, surrounded by excerpts from articles on surrealism and
photographs of Patti Smith, it is a fanzine that was more "intellectual". There were also
fanzines with very different concepts: for example, the second issue of London’s Outrage (by
Jon Savage), was only composed of a series a photographs of urban ruins and graffitis.71
Fanzines evolved along with the punk scene: Their number started to increase in
1977, and, while punk-rock slowly blended into mainstream culture, they tried more and more
to define and reflect on the future of punk culture.
2.2 Fanzines and mainstream press

The punk-rock music emerged in the mid-1970s in response to the music business.
Similarly, fanzines flourished defining themselves in opposition to the mainstream music
68
69
Jolt, issue 2, March 1977.
70
48 Thrills, issue 1,1977, p.5.
71
London’s Outrage, issue 2, February 1977.
25
press. The first lines of 48 Thrills claim: “Bored with Sounds and NME? Fed up with waiting
for SG? Heres (sic) the fanzine that really kills cos (sic) the worst mag out is 48 Thrills! ”72
This “negative identity” occurred through the praise of amateurism. In 1976, main music
magazines such as Sounds, The New Musical Express (NME), and The Melody Maker (MM)
would originally have no interest in the emergence of punk-rock. Within The Melody Maker,
Caroline Coon were the first journalist to cover the emergence of the punk scene, while her
colleagues, mostly interested in progressive rock and hard rock, kept on considering punk-
rock with disdain. However, punk-rock was not completely ignored by mainstream
magazines. Apart from Caroline Coon, a few other journalists from NME and Sounds, like
Tony Parsons, Neil Spencer, Nick Kent and Mick Farren, favorably welcomed punk and
covered the main events of the scene. But still, some fans thought that punk music was treated
in a condescending manner: “The reviews of the Ramones gig just sums up the whole dumb
attitude of the ‘best-sellers’ towards punk-rock. They treat it like some kind of freak show to
be laughed at.”73 Mark Perry, unhappy with a bad review of his idols, then criticized all the
music press. But even if rock journalists wrote good reviews about punk, he considered that,
by their function and age, they were not able to understand this music. Most rocks journalists
were indeed the previous generation that had dominated the mass media, and they did not
refer to the new generation of 15-25 year olds: “the weeklyes are so far away from the kids
that they can’t possibly say anything of any importance to punk-rock fans”74. Claiming a
"horizontal" relationship between readers and writers, creators of fanzines proudly defined
their difference with the professional press. They were publications “Written by fans…for
fans”75. There was more traditional separation between producer and consumer, that is to say,
between the one who has the professional skills, and those who do not possess. As Duncombe
stated, a fanzine reader could easily tell himself “I see how they did that. That’s not too hard.
Anybody can do that.”76 Adrian Thrills commented in his fanzine: « There ain’t many new
singles reviewed this week, cos (sic) I ain’t bought any for a while », or also: “This review
and interview was done by Tony who says he was very pissed at the time he can’t remember
anything”77. Besides, the chaotic aesthetic of fanzines contrasted with the smooth, neat and
72
48 Thrills, issue 1,1977, p.2.
73
74
75
76
Stephen DUNCOMBE, Op.Cit., 1997, p.135.
77
48 Thrills, issue 1, 1977, p.3.
26
uniform layout of mainstream magazines.The journalists from Sounds, The New Musical
Express and Melody Maker often brought an external point of view on the punk scene, and
were aware of that. Julie Burchill, while describing a pogo during an Eater concert, knew she
was describing something she was not a part of: “These young people were covering the floor
in bounds that would make a wallaby long-jump champeen feel redundant. Made me feel real
old.”78 Therefore, far from despising the amateurism of fanzines, some journalists were aware
that these publications were essential sources to learn and understand this underground scene.
In an article about the Australian band The Saints, Tony Parson thanked Mark Perry for his
contribution: “Most of the info that I got on the band comes from a letter that they wrote to
the Poet Laureate of the Blank Generation Mark P., the editor of the great Sniffin’ Glue. I
salute you, squire.”79 Mark P. became the spokesman of the movement, and Sniffin’Glue was
the main reference of punk-related articles in mainstream press. There are reference to
Sniffin’Glue often in articles about punk, and, occasionally, some references to less well-know
fanzines : “48 Thrills fanzine (I think) printed three guitar chords with the instructions ‘Now
form a group’”80. This kind of references shows that journalists knew the punk fanzines and
used them as a sources for their articles. However, Mark Perry kept on expressing the same
hostility towards the "expert opinion" of professional journalists and continued to praise the
amateur fanzines: “SOUNDS, NME, MELODY MAKER & the new crap-ROCKSTAR
should stick to writing about established artists. Leave our music to us, if anything needs to be
written, us kids will do it.”81 That did not stop some fanzines creators to become themselves
journalists in mainstream medias: Mick Mercer, creator of Panache, became a freelance
journalist for Melody Maker and Record Mirror, and later editor of Zig Zag magazine. Dany
Baker, having contributed to the drafting of Sniffin'Glue, later worked at the New Musical
Express, and became a broadcaster for BBC Radio London. Jon Savage created the fanzine
London's Outrage in 1976, and then worked as a journalist for Sounds from 1977, where he
wrote interviews and directed cartoons. The relationship between punk fanzines and music
magazines were, to some extent, mutually productive: fanzines glorified their amateurism and
were defined by standing against mainstream magazines. Creators of fanzines regularly
criticized these magazines that they considered pretentious and boring, but fanzines served as
a gateway to some to become professional journalists in the media. Conversely, professional
78
New Musical Express, 2 January 1977, p.35.
79
New Musical Express, 8 January 1977.
80
New Musical Express, 29 January 1977.
81
Sniffin’Glue, issue 5, November 1976, p.2.
27
journalists used fanzines as resources "from the inside" of the underground movement.That
did not stop some fanzines creators to become themselves journalists in mainstream medias:
Mick Mercer, creator of Panache, became a freelance journalist for Melody Maker and
Record Mirror, and later editor of Zig Zag magazine. Dany Baker, having contributed to the
drafting of Sniffin'Glue, later worked at the New Musical Express, and became a broadcaster
for BBC Radio London. Jon Savage created the fanzine London's Outrage in 1976, and then
worked as a journalist for Sounds from 1977, where he wrote interviews and directed
cartoons. The relationship between punk fanzines and music magazines were, to some extent,
mutually productive: fanzines glorified their amateurism and were defined by standing against
mainstream magazines.Creators of fanzines regularly criticized these magazines that they
considered pretentious and boring, but fanzines served as a gateway to some to become
professional journalists in the media. Conversely, professional journalists used fanzines as
resources "from the inside" of the underground movement.
This kind of cooperation was however unthinkable between punk fanzines and national
newspapers. The British tabloids covered punk as a weird movement corrupting the youth,
and named the Sex Pistols the leaders of an unhealthy conspiracy. Indeed, national
newspapers started covering punk in October 1976. The Sun qualified it the « craziest pop
cult of them all », while the Daily Mail, referred to the punk band Siouxsie Sioux and Steve
Severin as « wreckers of civilisation ». The Grundy incident then put the punk movement in
the national newspapers headlines. The interview between Bill Grundy and the Sex Pistols
transgressed the codes that normally applied prime time television programs, therefore the
press reacted vehemently: « Four letters Group in TV Storm » and « The Punk Horror Show »
(Daily Mail), « Four Letters Words Rock TV » (Daily Telegraph). From then, the tabloids
tried to publish shocking revelations about punks. In 1977, the Pistols flew to Holland, and
the London Evening Standard published an article stating that the group had an obscene
behavior, and vomited in public at Heathrow Airport.82 After this event, fanzines were used
by fans of the Sex Pistols as a forum to respond to such accusations: « A very reliable source
told SG’s H.T Mulowski that the storys were « complete fabrication. »83 The scandal
provoked by the Grundy incident made EMI to break its contract with the Sex Pistols. Most
dates of their tour in the UK were canceled, the owners of venues refusing to allow punk
bands: punks become the plague. In summer 1977, the Sex Pistols single "God Save the
82
Steven JONES, Pop Music And The Press, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, cop. 2002, p. 121.
83
28
Queen" sold 200,000 copies. The British Market Research Bureau tampered positions in the
national rankings to prevent God Save the Queen to appear as number one in the rankings.84
In response to this song considered an insult to the Queen and the monarchy, the Sunday
People ran a three-week series on punk, concluding that punk is a "dangerous", "sick" and
"sinister" cult (19 June 1976). At the same time, the Sunday Mirror published the article
"Punish the Punks", also claiming that punk songs caused violence (12 June 1977). Follows a
series of attacks against members of the Sex Pistols, and against other punk musicians. The
Sunday People then put the violence on account of fights between punks and teddy boys (26
June 1977.85 Punk fans challenged these statements through fanzines, explaining that the
violence was not characteristic of punk rock. Fanzines also gave guidelines to follow by
encouraging readers not to give interviews to journalists. Alienated and caricatured,
supporters of the punk scene found in fanzines a means of expression to contradict the
national press, and send a positive image of their movement. Most fanzines reached a small
audience consisting of fans and supporters: they did not need to preach to the already
converted punk fans by challenging in detail the bad image of punk given by the tabloids.
Fanzine writers did not want to give too much importance to the media uproar, but still
expressed their annoyance in small articles. Adrian Thrills, in a section titled « The Pistols v.
Establishment », was sorry that the scandal around the Grundy incident has prompted EMI to
fire the Sex Pistols : « What I really want to say is that it’s so fuckin’ rediculous (sic), ain’t
it ? »86. He mocked the sensationalism of the press by doodling around his article
« Sensation », « Outrage ! », « Shock ! ». Fanzines writers also encouraged their readers not
to be intimidated by the "anti-punk": Charlie Chainsaw published a "Chainsaw's Angry Page"
in his fanzine, titled « Why should we be pushed around by those crappy people that know
bugger-all about anything ? »87.
To some extent, the shouts of the tabloids strengthened the cohesion of young
supporters of the punk scene. The violent and hostile reaction of newspapers represented for
them the voice of the Establishment against which punk rock, as a definitely protesting music,
was standing. As a result, even if punk music lovers did not share the same political beliefs or
ideals, they saw in the national press a common enemy.
84
Jon SAVAGE, Op. Cit., p. 416.
85
Steven JONES, op.cit., 2002, p. 417.
86
48 Thrills, issue 2, January 1977, p.3.
87
29
However it was difficult to find references to punk fanzines in national newspapers.
Lucy Toothpaste published in her fanzine an extract of one of the rare newspaper articles
mentioning fanzine titles, “written by punk freaks, they are neither pretentious nor glossy”.
Even in articles about the punk movement, the fanzines were very rarely mentioned. As an
example, the article Lycy T. mentioned was placed in the children section, “along with a ‘Can
you paint the Queen’ contest”. This media coverage around punk and the Sex Pistols painted a
stereotyped picture of the movement which became progressively familiar to everyone. Thus,
precipitating the assimilation of punk culture into mainstream culture, media hype brought
punk to become hip very quickly.
30
CHAPTER 3 : WHEN PUNK BECAME HIP: TOWARD A
REDEFINITION OF THE LONDON PUNK SCENE
In 1977, punk reached its peak and gained a popularity that marked the decline of its
countercultural dimension. According to Dick Hebdige, each subculture goes through a phase
of assimilation into mainstream culture, which inevitably leads to decline: « Each Subculture
moves through a cycle of resistance and defusion and […] this cycle is situated within the
larger cultural and commercial matrices. Subcultural deviance is simultaneously rendered
‘explicable’ and meaningless in the classrooms, courts and media at the same time as the
‘secret’ objects of subcultural style are put on display in every high street record shop and
chain-store boutique. Stripped of its unwholesome connotations, the style become feet for
public consumption.”88
3.1 Assimilation in the mainstream: the punk sub-culture decline
First presented as a disturbing and dangerous movement by the media, punk

eventually started to appear as an ordinary and familiar movement in the mainstream culture;
this caused the loss of its countercultural identity and its decline phase almost simultaneous to
its climax.
By 1977 the London scene was flourishing: hundreds of bands emerged, including the
Slits, an all-female band, the X Ray Spex, with the female singer Poly Styrene, Slaughter and
The Dogs, Chelsea, Penetration, Adverts, or The Vibrators. The Saints, from Australia,
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs and Cherry Vanilla from New York, the Heartbreakers
and The Police settled in London. Music industry began to take a close interest in punk rock;
record releases multiplied. Independent labels such as Track, Chrysalis, and Phonogram
invested in punk music. During a few months, fanzines Sideburns, Ripped and Torn, et
Sniffin’Glue ran advertisements for Track. The Adverts brought out their first album in
August, thanks to a contract with Anchor Records: « Gary Gilmore’s Eyes », joined the top 20
in September. In contrast, majors were more reluctant: after terminating their contract with
EMI the Sex pistols signed a contract with A&M Records which was broken after only 6
days. A new contract was signed with Virgin Records a few months later. EMI released
88
Dick HEBDIGE, Op. Cit., cop.2003, p. 130.
31
« This perfect day » by The Saints in July with a “maxi-single limited edition” form as a
marketing “gimmick”. In 2 weeks, the song joined the top 30 and the band appeared on the
famous TV show Top of the Pops - an extremely popular British weekly music program- on
the same week as the Sex Pistols.89The Clash signed a contract with the American major CBS
and released the album “White Riot”, listed in the top 40 on the first week of April. The
“Roxy” album - a compilation of live recordings of concerts at the Roxy Club- ranked in the
top 30 in August.90 Punk-rock became extremely popular: it reached a wide audience and
appeared on TV. Hence, punk bands had a major impact, although some radios and television
channels continued to boycott them. Punk bands worked with major labels and even
performed in major concert halls such as the Rainbow and the Roundhouse: punks entered the
mainstream and even revitalized music industry. The DIY and adventurous spirit of the very
beginning seemed to have vanished. For many people, the punk era was nearing its end in
1977, when the movement lose its independency and its countercultural dimension, and
finally, its identity. However, many fans considered that music production was central and
outran the independence ethics. Fans who express themselves in the fanzines know that for a
band, signing with a label means the end of financial hardship and the possibility for
musicians to devote themselves to music full time. Firstly shocked when he found out that the
Clash were signing with CBS, Mark P. finally remained realistic regarding the issue of the
independence, with which fanzines, too, are dealing: “They keep telling everybody that the
‘punk scene must stay independent’. Yeah well I reckon we should stay independent and
forget about record companies that had their glory in the swingin’ sixties…except when they
save SG7 from the graveyard by paying out £60 for their page ad.”91 Thus, while in 1976 the
DIY spirit encouraged young people to create their own culture, and was the core of its
dynamism, it constituted only a part of its identity in 1977. The large-scale commercialisation
made the movement trivial and conventional. The innovatory momentum was being lost.
After sensationalism and terror, tabloids sold punk as a trendy movement. As early as
1977, worrying press articles about punks were balanced by comforting news showing that punks
were ordinary young people: The News of The World and the Sunday People reported good
punks stories, marriages between punks and the Nottingham Evening Post published an
article about punks going to church.92 In an article entitled “the punks and their mother”, the
89
Jon SAVAGE, Op. Cit., 1991, p.352
90
Ibid., p.435.
91
Sniffin’Glue, issue 7, February 1977, p.6.
92
Steven JONES, Op. Cit., 2002, p.121.
32
Woman’s Own magazine focussed on the fanciful and inoffensive nature of punks
appearance.93 A reassuring interview of Johnny Rotten’s mother was also published in The
Islington Gazette (NME 4 June 1977). In mid-1977, the punk movement was depicted by the
press as the new fashionable movement: an « A to Z » for punk was published in November
1977.94 Punk appearance became very much in vogue, in spite of its extravagant clothing style
that combined plastic clothes, items and glasses, tags, colourful or black and white
sadomasochistic accessories. White shirts, tight and short pants were paint-sprayed in a
Jackson Pollocks-style; hair was short and spiky, partially shaven or dyed. Safety pin, worn as
earring or across the cheek became the emblem of the movement. In summer 1977, punk
clothing and accessories could be ordered from catalogues and in September, Cosmopolitan
published a report on the stylist Zandra Rhodes latest collection, largely inspired by the punk
spirit.95
According to Hebdige, this assimilation phase into the mainstream culture marked the
decline of the punk counterculture: initial innovations provided by punk were codified,
transformed into marketable goods and made accessible to the general public. Therefore
trivalized the characteristics of punk began to become frozen codes. A stiff rhythm section,
with many guitar’ s distortions, a limited equipment, and full of fierceness texts barked with a
harsh voice, with the corresponding clothing, became the rule which made this subculture a
rigid and conventional genre. The Roxy club, as the focal point of punk, still greeted
numerous groups who tried their fate following punk “recipe”, but who often lacked
imagination. Some followers regretted that punk-rock had dismantled codes to eventually
establish new ones, and spoke of “inverted snobbery”: « They all sound like third-hand
Ramones. […] There’s so many bands trying to play how they think punk music should be
played. […] Now the game is to play as crudely as you can..its an inverted snobbery.”96
Everything that was not actually an “agressive and pogoable”97 music was rejected by a
portion of the public: fanzines denounced this “elitism” which changed punk into a caricature
of itself: “the remainder conformed to the ridiculously minimal standards of playing fast,
furious and functional music with a couple of angry throwaway song titles like ‘I Don’t
Really Care at All’ or ‘He’s a Fascist Dictator With a Bored Teenage Corgi’ (…), and the
elite liked it because it did not pose an alternative musical threat to their own brand of
93
Dick HEBDIGE, Op.Cit., cop.2003, p.63.
94
Steven JONES, Op. Cit., cop. 2002, p.121.
95
Dick HEBDIGE, Op.Cit., cop.2003, p.63.
96
Panache, issue 4, 1977, p.7.
97
In The City, issue 4, late 1977, p.5.
33
music.’98 Some young people who had followed the London punk scene since the summer of
1976 disliked the coming of new trendy followers who jumped on the punk bandwagon.
There was more and more aversion in fanzines to “posers”. In English the term “poser” or
“poseur”, from the French “poser”, means “a person who behaves affectedly in order to
impress others”. According to editors of punk fanzines, posers were people who came to
concerts to be hip but were not really interested in the punk music or subculture. Posers could
be distinguished from “real punks” as the former were passive. They did not contribute to the
dynamism and renewal of punk scene: they just affected their attitude or “posed”, in punk
fancy dress, being seen in fashionable punk scene sites to be hip, while the raisons d’être of
punk was to be a participatory subculture: “the marquee was packed with the most manic
bunch of posoers I have ever witnessed, hurtlins (sic) themselves up and across, unlike the
steads rhythms older folk who so for a more picturesque bouncing style.”99 According to
Graham Newson, who wrote in In The City, the idea of “real punk” opposed to “poseurs” who
appeared since 1976, in 1977 became the symbol of narcissism and of purism which take over
the punk stage, of which fanzines were not exempted: “ I suppose in a way, it’s very elite to
write/produce/scribble in a fanzine/magazine. […] Inflicting self-congratulatory opinions on
others. Transmitting your own pretentions, attitudes, and approach via the faceless
communication of words.”100
Opinions varied among editors of punk fanzines. However all observed that a
caricature of punk in the press, then its trivialization and commercial success left the punk
scene in a lethargic state. In view of such stagnation, punk fanzine editors encouraged their
readers to still be open to any music which was not fundamentally “punk”: “cause when you
start missing and ignoring everything that ain’t hard-punk you miss the point of the new-wave
completely.”101 Thus, actually, some groups lose no time in stepping into the breach opened
up by punk, and since 1977, they kept some characteristics of this music and used these for
something new.
3.2 The beginnings of new-wave / post-punk within the punk scene

« Remember to just listen to what you want, and not what they want you to listen to. A
lot of people are saying that ‘punk’ is finished now, maybe it is, as far as the ‘safety pin’ is
98
In The City, issue 4, late 1977, p.5.
99
Panache, issue 4, August 1977, p.9.
100
In The City, issue 4, late 1977, p. 9.
101
34
concerned +++ But it’s really just the clear-out period. The period when all the crap gets
flushed away. And we’re left with the good bands +++”102 Noting that the punk movement
was crumbling with its growing popularity, the editor of the fanzine In The City expresses
there its will to maintain this alternative culture which aroused so much enthusiasm a few
months earlier. Thus, while punk was becoming conventional and standardised, some bands
tried to innovate, young musicians –and not the music industry- trying to re-discover the
founding principles of the movement.
Like any subculture, punk never formed a unified and static entity, but rather a
constantly evolving combination of different factions and influences.The simplified picture
given by the media made the movement appear as consistent and unified, and did not reflect
the diversity of musicals styles covered by the movement since 1976. For example, Mark
Perry, in the first issue of Sniffin’Glue, said that he likes minimalist and primitive rock of the
Ramones as much as the melodious songs of the Flamin’Groovies. The diversity of fanzines,
on its own, attests to the heterogeneity of the movement. In 1976, new emerging music trends
in London were grouped into the words “punk” or “new wave”, without clear differences
between these terms. The subtitle of the fourth issue of Sniffin’Glue and Other Rock’n Roll
Habits was “For Punks” whereas that of the first issue was “For The New Wave!” The terms
“new wave” were simply used to distinguish between old and new rock, even if everyone was
aware of the diversity of styles. However, from 1977, the different components and influences
were increasingly visible and the punk/new wave scene broke up into varous contingents.The
name “punk” is then more specifically used to define those who defend acerbic and nihilistic
music aesthetics such as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.103 “New wave” gradually referred
to those whose music, based on punk aethetics, was partly experimental, and who gave
particular care to recording and commercial release.104 This evolving terminology was desired
by the bands: they used the terms “new wave” in order to circumvent medias censorship of
105
punk and also because it was easier to find a performance hall with this designation.
Furthermore, the word “punk” was more and more associated with a pejorative and cartoon-
like image of the movement portrayed by the media. From the beginning, the hardcore fans
and musicians refused this label: “I hate the word ‘punk’…..it’s a name used by old farts to
describe a bunch of weirdos who swear and spit and wear safety pins and trow (sic) beer
102
In the City, issue 4, late 1977, p.2.
103
Christophe PIRENNE, Op. Cit., 2001, p.307.
104
Ibid., p.307.
105
Ibid., p308.
35
glasses at each other, which is not what it’s all about…anyway, we shouldn’t be labeled ready
to be stored away in the files of music history.”106 The term “post-punk” is today widely
accepted to designate all bands who claimed to be punks after 1977. As noticed by Christophe
Pirenne, the terms to designate the different musical styles were not always consistent and the
boundaries were porous. However, in spite of this terminological confusion, it may be noted
that some characteristics of new-wave/post punk were somewhat different from those of punk.
Whereas fundamentally punks hate everything and rejects nostalgia, new-wave drew
substantially in the past by taking as a model the glam-rock, the mods music or singers-
songwriters as Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart; some bands were even influenced by
progressive rock. Some bands coloured their music with black influences, such as reggae and
funk music: with The Clash, The Police was one of the first band to choose reggae as the main
source of inspiration, and appeared in London fanzines since 1976.107 The Jam, fascinated by
The Mods music, lifestyle and clothing, refered to music from the sixties with the Kinks and
the Who as main role model. Appearing in the fanzines since 1977 –the fanzine In the City
took its title from one of their songs – the Jam did not wear torn clothes as most punks did,
but fitting suits. Their political opinions, as well as some lyrics of the guitar player Paul
Weller, which seemed to regret the decline of the British Empire, took the opposite view of
the punk attitude : “We‘ll be voting Conservative at the next election” the members of the
band declared in an interview to NME in May 1977. 108 They also refused the name “punk”
because of the image given by the press, but keep the minimalist aesthetics and the original
spirit of an accessible movement created by young people: “We’re not really a ‘punk’ group.
The way the press have got (sic) hold of the ‘new wave’ though. The great thing is just kids
playing to kids.” 109 Sideburns defined the punk movement as « THE JAM doing a gig on the
fuckin’ pavement ».110 The new-wave/sounds differ from those of the punk. Guitar players as
Martin Bramah from The Fall produced clear and curtly sounds inspired from funk or reggae.
Under the influence of dub, reggae and funk, bass gained in importance and drummers went
back to more simplicity. New wave reintroduced synthesizers and used the first drum
machines. In particular, Ultravox was one those bands whose music, although based on the
punk musical aesthetics, explored new tones: “we’re using a synthesizer too, that’s a mortal
sin, along with an acoustic guitar. We just brought one..we’ re not going to use it like
106
107
Ripped and Torn, issue 1, November 1976, p.11.
108
The New Musical Express, 7 May1977.
109
48 Thrills, issue 2, 1977, p.7.
110
36
Rick Wakeman and all that crap. We want to use it to make really great noises with-as good
as a guitar…we’re using feedback too”.111 Thus, some bands differed from the strict punk-
rock in their sounds, influences and attitudes, especially in 1977: they underlined the diversity
within the movement and pulled it out of the lethargic condition into which it had been
plunged by the media. This evolution was also seen in the dress styles of these bands : Kris
Needs, in Sniffin’Glue, expressed satisfaction at the personal style of the Rich Kids : “I like
the group’s none-adherence to the Punk rulebook. I mean they got longish hair and the clothes
weren’t exactly King’s Road no it was good to see a group carving, their own image, not
copying the Sun.”112
For the most radical fringes of the punk-rock scene, media coverage and marketing
signed the death of the movement.The lyrics of the song “Punk is dead” by the anarcho-punk
band Crass released in 1978 were unequivocal : “CBS promote the Clash, but it ain't for
revolution, it's just for cash. Punk became a fashion just like hippy used to be and it ain't got a
thing to do with you or me”. This interpretation reflects the endless debate on not only the
definition but also on the authenticity of punk. For Fabien Hein, this question of authenticity
includes two main ideas. For the first one, the unconditional practice of DIY was the main
criterion for punk authenticity. The economical and artistic independency from the prevailing
culture guaranteed by the DIY, was the central value ensuring the integrity of the movement.
Those who become integrated to music industry are considered as a traitor to the movement
and is a “sell-out”. For those in favor the second main idea, music was more important
than the way of action. DIY was not a fundamental principle but was considered as « une
étape nécessaire pour parvenir à intégrer les circuits de l’industrie musicale.»113 Then it often
happened that once integrated in the music industry, bands tried to defuse criticism by
claiming their intentions to destabilize the system « from the inside ».
While punk movement expressed a reaction against commercial rock music, and was
trying to deconstruct its conventions, the movement confined itself in its own rigid codes by
the end of 1977. First vehemently criticized and despised by the press, punk started
111
Rick Wakeman was a member of progressive rock band Yes
Feedback: the return of a fraction of the output signal from an amplifier, microphone or other device to the input
of the same device; sound distortion produced by this.
Panache, issue 4, 1997, p.8
112
Sniffin’ Glue, issue 12, August 1977, p.11.
113
Fabien HEIN, Do it yourself !: Autodétermination et culture punk, Congé-sur-Orne : Ed.Le Passager
clandestin, 2012, p. 107.
37
progressively to appear as the new zany fashion followed by the youth, and from then became
part of the mainstream culture. The London punk scene was losing its alternative and
rebellious character through its media and its inherent marketing, and was stagnating.
Consequently actors started to question what defined its authenticity. In this debate,
independence against the music industry took an important place. If the two main ideas
presented by Fabien Hein diverge, they remain inseparable from the dynamics that have led
punk to exist and to establish itself: the principle of creative freedom accessible to anyone,
the involvement and participation of all members of the movement, without distinction
between producer and consumer. These principles included a share of limitations and
contradictions, and partly contributed to the stagnation of the movement. For example, in
defining itself as an inclusive and participatory movement, punk collected a multitude of
lacking creativity groups who mimicked the main features of the musical genre, turning them
into rigid codes. However, the movement was launched on a desire for change and renewal; in
renewing itself musically the punk scene tried to maintain. From 1978, post punk clearly
integrated these principles by turning DIY into a driving force to carry out radical
innovations.
38
PART 2: THE INTEGRATION OF THE DIY PRACTICE BY POST-PUNK: 1978-1980
39
CHAPTER 1: THE CREATION OF INDEPENDENT
INFRASTRUCTURES
After the commercialization of punk in 1977, the question of independence became

central to the debates surrounding the definition and authenticity of the punk movement. In
reaction to the commercial success of the Sex Pistols, and to the agreements made between
certain punk bands such as The Clash and the great recording companies, post-punk created
its own network of independent music production institutions. By the end of the 1970s a
multitude of specialized record dealers, record labels and independent distributors of those at
the top of the music industry had thus flourished, incarnating the values of diy; amateurism,
participation and cooperation.
1.1 The DIY ethic applied to music production
The post-punk movement distinguished by the emergence of a multitude of

independent labels, and selfproduced records faithful to the libertarian and DIY ethics of
punk.
The release of the Spiral Scratch EP by The Buzzcocks in January 1977, under their
own label New Hormones, marked the creation of the first entirely self-produced punk album.
The four titles of this EP were recorded in three hours and mixed in two hours. For a first
pressing of a thousand records, the band invested £600 in the operation. In the first trimester
6,000 Spiral Scratch records were sold. The Buzzcocks thus helped to demystify the process
of producing and distributing records. On the back of some disc sleeves they specify
information on recording, like the number of overdubs114 and which takes were selected. The
title otherwise defines what a disc is: a circular groove engraved in the vinyl. The idea to
record and produce a disc by independent means was not new.115 Several independent labels
existed before the punk movement; nevertheless their independence in relation to the greats
was not a core principle. Chiswick and Stiff Records alone were completely independent in
114
Additional sounds on an existing recording.
115
Simon REYNOLDS, Op. Cit., 2007, p. 131.
40
terms of finance and distribution before 1977, and, as soon as the opportunity arose, they later
signed agreements with the majors. The bands which created their own label form 1977 were
for their part very enthusiastic to see the development of a network of accessible production
free from the domination of the majors. Moreover, the independent labels created before 1977
had been set up by people with professional experience in the music industry. On the flip side,
independent labels created under the influence of the punk movement were set up by amateurs
lacking any competence or professional experience in the record business. 116 The Buzzcocks'
initiative led hundreds of bands to adopt the “Do it yourself” tactic. The Desperate Bicycle
followed their example, producing their first disc with their own label Refill Records. They
became ardent defenders of auto-production: at the end of their single “Smokescreen”, they
urge the listener to do like them “It was easy, it was cheap - go and do it.” This slogan
becomes the chorus for their second record “The Medium Was Tedium”. On the b-side “Don't
Back the Front” similarly exalts the act and the DIY by chanting “Xerox music's is here at
last”: DIY, until then incarnated by fanzines, was applied to production. By encouraging
listeners to make, press and distribute their own records, the Desperate Bicycles made a
considerable impact, and are to be found at the origin of numerous DIY creations with key
post-punk figures such as Swell Maps, Scritti, Politti, Young Marble Giants, Television
Personalities et Daniel Miller, alias The Normal. The latter recorded in 1978 his pieces:
“T.V.O.D” and “Warm Leatherette” in his bedroom with a synthesizer. He thus auto-
produced a 45 Tower of electro-punk under the pseudonym The Normal. He sold 300,000
copies and became the managing director of his label Mute Records.117 Such success stories
proved that anyone could release their own record, and could even prove profitable. As such,
a series of electro-punk singles were independently released at the same time: “United” by
Throbbing Gristle, the EP “Extended Play” by Cabaret Voltaire, “Boring Boiled” by Human
League, “Paralysis” by Robert Renta, and “Private Plane” by Thomas Leer. In 1978, the band
Scritti Politti also set up their own label, St Pancras Records, and edited their first disc “Skank
Block Bologna”.118 Independence and DIY applied to disc production came to be their
essential values: “« we had this idea that there should be hundreds of bands making DIY
records, and if we could do it, anyone could.[…] We wanted, and still do want, to de-mystify
the business of making records, dis-mantle all the myths bit-by-bit. That’s important to us.”119
116
Ibid., p.133.
117
Ibid., p.135.
118
Ibid., p.141.
119
Rapid Eye Movement, issue 1, winter 1979, p.7.
41
They detailed in the sleeves the costs of recording, mastering, pressing, printing of sleeves,
and indicated the societies which they had consulted. The 2,500 copies of their record were
sold equally fast. With the support of John Peel, the celebrated Radio One DJ, they then sold
another 15,000 copies. By auto-producing, bands did not need to pass by a producer: creating
their own label guaranteed, in addition, a complete artistic liberty: « It also means we have got
total control over what stuff is released. That’s very important to us aswell (sic), we’d hate to
be told what to do by small record company people.”120 In similar fashion, Philip Sirens, from
the band The Jets, propagated its advantages in a letter to Ripped & Torn: « I’m not interested
in queues into London (cassette first etc etc you know what I mean). We got no management,
no contract, and no agent (etc) so thats (sic) why the label of own. Independence like. The
label will be called Soundman.”121 With their friends for Television Personalities, Swell Maps
constituted a branch of post-punk which clearly embodied the slogan “This is a chord, this is
another, now form your own band.” With an uncertain rhythmic, dissonant guitars, and
rudimentary base lines, the amateurism in their music and in their recordings became central,
to the point that every trace of technical mastery and of professionalism was eradicated. 122
The members of Television Personalities even consecrated a fanzine in praise of DIY
productions: King's Road. Subtitled “The independent fanzine for independents”, their fanzine
was dedicated to all bands who were auto-producing. In its interviews and articles, the fanzine
dissects the process of creating and distributing a record, in doing so encouraging the practice
of DIY. The process was, in actual fact, simple and inexpensive: “£18.00 for two hours studio
time, £30.00 for the laquers from Pye studios, £167.00 for pressing by Lyntone and £10.00 for
the sleeves” 123 explained the members of the band O'Level in an interview given at King’s
Road. Distribution was then assured by specialized record dealers, more and more common in
Great-Britain: "King’s Road: Was all your distribution a problem? O’Level: -No, not really. I
mean, Rough Trade and Small Wonder were quite helpful.”124
The hundreds of independent labels which were set up with the post-punk were not all
created by bands who wished to auto-produce. Equally, specialized record dealers such as
Rough Trade and Small Wonders moved into production. Specialist record shops proliferated
from 1978 on: 1,750 are accounted for in Great Britain around 1978, or 32% of the total of 5,
120
Rapid Eye Movement, issue 1, Winter 1979, p.7.
121
122
Simon REYNOLDS, Op.cit., 2007, p.141.
123
King’s Road, issue 1, p.4.
124
King’s Road, issue 1, p.4.
42
500 outlets selling records in the country. Three years later there were 2, 370.125 The most
significant in London were Beggars Banquet (London's Earl Court), Small Wonders,
(Walthamstow, East Court), and Rough Trade (Notting Hill, West London). According to
David Hesmondhalgh, the proliferation of these specialized record shops was linked to a
diminution in the number of generous independent dealers who catered for all musical genres.
This diminution was due to the entry of stores such as Boots and Woolworth into the musical
market of the high streets.126 Prior to 1976, specialized record shops essentially offered
American West Coast rock records, US underground and psychedelic proto-punk. With the
emergence of Punk, dealers began creating their own labels while selling records. Creating
their own labels was indeed profitable for these dealers, being given a small amount of
investment necessitated by punk discs, rapidly recorded and without embellishment, generally
with four-track tape recorders. On the other hand, the big record companies were investing
greater and greater sums of money into recording and promoting albums with sophisticated
technology: only 10% of all recordings they produced generated a profit. Nevertheless, when
certain albums succeeded, this 10% covered sales figures so important that the entirety of the
investments were made profitable. Thus, and to complement the profits generated by
investments in other sectors of the music industry, the majors were in a position to lose money
on 90% of the records they produced.127 Simon Frith notes that at the end of the 1970s “ the
average 'rock 'n' roll album' cost between $70,000 and $100,000 in studio time, and any rock
'sweetening' (adding strings [stringed instruments], for example) could add another $50,000 to
the bill; promotion budgets began at around $150,000 and rose rapidly".128 These prohibitive
cost encouraged musicians and dealers to short-circuit the domination of majors, and to be at
the source of a multiplication of the number of independent labels. The first bands produced
by dealers were often clients of the shop. Beggars Banquet began to know some success as a
label by producing the band Tubeway Army: one of the band members, Gary Numan, was a
regular at the shop and made his band known by putting a demo tape on the sound system of
the shop.129 Beggars Banquet Records later produced the band The Lurkers, while Rough
Trade Records produced notably the French band Métal Urbain and the band Subway Sect,
125
David HESMONDHALGH, Op. cit., p.258.
126
Ibid.
127
Ibid.
128
Simon FRITH quoted by Stacy THOMPSON, “Market Failure: Punk Economics, Early and Late”, College
Literature, Vol. 28, No. 2, Spring, 2001, p.51.
129
43
and Small Wonders Records the bands The Zeros and The Carpettes.130 The different
independent dealers were dispersed across Great-Britain. As a result, they did not make any
agreements, and collaborated by exchanging local productions, also permitting local bands to
distribute on a national or international level. The networks of alternative production of the
post-punk scene thus allowed for the meaningful decentralization of music production, such
that the music industry in Great Britain was centered on London. This decentralization also
came about thanks to the weekly musical press (Sounds, The New Musical Express, The
Melody Maker), and to John Peel's radio show which was interested in sounds produced
outside the capital.131
Gradually, the authors of fanzines took note of the important development of
independent labels surrounding the post-punk scene, observing for the first time that they
records they were critiquing were either produced by new labels, or auto-produced. Tony D.,
editor of Ripped & Torn, himself rejoiced at this evolution: “Good to see more and more
independent record labels making the R&T charts.” 132
In this alternative network of music
production, Rough Trade was centrally important.
1.2 Rough Trade as the main point of the alternative music scene
Rough Trade was initially a record shop situated in Ladbroke Grove quarter
inaugurated in February 1976 by Geoff Travis. Graduated from Cambridge and having a
passion for music, Geoff Travis gathered about a hundred discs records during a journey
throught the United-States. Back in England, he recovered another records stock given up by
a Cambridge’s record shop owner who was bankrupt, and he opened a cosy shop where the
clients could listen to music quietly. In 1976, in Great Britain, major record companies
controlled music distribution thanks to contracts with the larger record shops owners that they
only supplied with albums which could become big hits. Geoff Travis wanted to promote
marginal music, which was not distributed by the majors.133 Therefore, Rough Trade quickly
became a central point in the London alternative music scene.
130
131
132
Ripped & Torn, issue 12, Summer 1978, p.3.
133
44
Rough Trade was one of the first record shops in London to sell imported items from
the United-States, such as the first singles selfproduced by Pere Ubu and Devo, or Punk
magazine from New-York. The internal running of the shop was based on collectivist values,
partly influenced by hippie counterculture from the 1960s, and by lifestyle in kibboutz that
Geoff Travis experienced during a journey in Israel. Society opperated as if it belonged to all
employees: each on had identical speaking time and salary. Rough State employees spent
entire days to listen all releases so they could decide upon records in need to be ordered:
progressively they elaborated a music intuition allowing the society to spot and determine the
future of punk music, then post punk. In February 1978, two year after its creation, Rough
Trade became an independent label, first by producing the single “Paris Maquis” from the
band Métal Urbain, then in producing an Augustus Pablo’s single. Moreover, the label started
to produce post punk groups: it produced the EP “Extended Play” by the experimental trio
from Sheffield Cabaret Voltaire.134 Rough Trade, like the labels Mute and Factory, developed
new kinds of agreements with artists, following the democratic ideals which lead its internal
operation. In music industry, relationships between musicians and record companies were
generally based on contracts between the two parts. Musicians offered their services in an
exclusive way to the society for a specific period of time and geographical zone. In return, the
society commited itself to advancing the required sum of money to promote their work. When
sales recouped this advance, musicians were paid in royalties. In a lot of cases, the advanced
money was not recouped, leaving musicians in debt for several years. Musician’s autonomy
was also restricted because of the nature of the long-term contract. Some criterions had to be
met by the artists to keep the contract, but in return they could not leave the company.135
Travis wanted to encourage a closer collaboration with musicians. The agreements between
Rough Trade and the musicians were established for one record at a time, and the benefits
were shared in equal parts between producers and artists. Artists could move to a record
company whenever they wished. Most of the independent labels established similar deals on a
50:50 basis. These agreements were verbally formulated, rather than on juridical documents,
and therefore were based on mutual trust. This kind of agreements allowed the label to release
records quickly. Therefore Rough Trade benefited from an appropriate reactivity to follow the
fast stylistic evolutions of post-punk. Besides, Travis considered that this kind of agreement
avoided bands producing music under pressure, since they did not have any advance to repay.
134
Ibid., p.144.
135
45
With these agreements on a 50:50 basis, artists payment rate are higher than they were with
the system of percentage royalty rates that were settled with the majors. However, this system
did not always favour musicians: they only could be paid when the equivalent of 50% of the
whole investment was recouped. Independent labels such as Rough Trade could not afford to
advance loans to musicians. Musicians at Rough Trade, as others amongst other independent
labels, had therefore to face financial difficulties until the sell of their records in substantial
quantities. Meanwhile, musicians could work at Rough Trade for instance by working as a
shop assistant or by preparing the packages to send to distributers.136 Geoff Travis considered
the musicians as cultural employees and not as artists, even less as rock-stars. Thus Rough
Trade deconstructed rock’n’roll and musical production’s myths. The employees did not have
any studio experience; and yet they were able to produce records for some leading artists of
post-punk scene, such as The Fall, Cabaret Voltaire, or the Stiff Little Fingers.137 Rough
Trade, defined itself as a center of cultural production, based on mutual aid and collective
effort, where the notions of accessibility and participation were essentials.
At the outset, Rough Trade was a label amongst the many others that emerged with
post-punk music: Small Wonders, Cherry Red, Industrial Step Forward, etc. But Rough Trade
Records quickly developed into a significant record company, and played a central role in the
post-punk scene, becoming a leading coordinating structure. Rough Trade was a support for
the whole alternative music scene, principally because it committed itself to supporting
projects of autonomy and of artistic booming from anyone. Rough Trade offered to loan to
music groups so that they could create their own label, or press more records. For instance,
thanks to a loan of £300 he received from Rough Trade, Daniel Miller pressed 2000
additional discs of “Warm Leatherette”, and then created his own label Mute. Rough Trade
was associated as well with small “mono-bands” labels such as Rather, the Swell Maps’label:
met the costs of manufacturing, and received distribution rights in return. These pressing and
distribution agreements were clearly profitable for Rough Trade: the main part of its turnover
was based on distribution. Above all, Rough Trade organized The Cartel, an independent
network of national distribution based on the alliance between the two London structures
Rough Trade and Small Wonders, and some of their regional counterparts such as Probe,
Revolver and Red Rhino. Thus the Cartel provided a distribution service on a national scale
for independent companies, and so developed an essential alternative distribution network.
136
Ibid.
137
46
Rough Trade also published The Catalogue, a list of records distributed by The Cartel, which
turned into a forum for discussions and informations about the independent sector. 138 Record
stores were also employed as distribution centers of fanzines since 1976; Rough Trade was
one of the major selling points of London fanzines. Most of the fanzines published between
1978 and 1980 indicated Rough Trade’s adress for the contributions or to contact the editors,
while the first fanzine generation essentially stated the editor’s home address. By 1980,
Rough Trade received an average of 12 new fanzines per week139, and distributed across the
country singles. Therefore, Rough Trade was a free information center, and was a place for
exchanges between musicians and the different actors of the post-punk scene, as one of the
musicians of the Raincoats expressed “I think Rough Trade was extraordinarily crucial. That
was the meeting place between people. Geoff [Travis] always liked his musicians to meet and
mingle and have some sort of dialogue.”140 Fanzines sometimes obtained their informations
thanks to this meeting spot: “the following information was extracted from Epic Soundtracks
& Jowe Head during a chat one afternoon on Rough Trade”.141
Some fanzines also showed the main role of Rough Trade: “Rough Trade is a label &
a shop which has probably done as much for the new wave scene as John Peel or Mark Perry
put together. Not only does it sell many records which it would be difficult to find elsewhere,
provide a place for people to go & listen to or buy records in a relaxed, genuine atmosphere,
not only does it provide the largest New Wave distribution in Britain but it also releases a host
of new, original music on a renouned (sic), if not commercially successful record label.”142
By 1977, DIY precepts were applied to music production, and lead to the emergence
of selfproduced records, and to the creation of a multitude of independent labels. Thus
musical production was progressively demystified, and punk bands had the opportunity to
realize a recording easily and cheaply. This created an alternative market within the
underground music scene. Managing to create an independent network of distribution, Rough
Trade suggested that the DIY dynamic was an economicaly viable model. Yet, by 1978,
despite the rise of independent labels, the punk movement did not raise the same enthusiasm
anymore, and could appear to be definitly over.
138
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid, p.262.
141
Peroxide, issue 1, February 1980, p.5.
142
Peroxide, issue 1, February 1980 p.4.
47
CHAPTER 2 : PUNK’S LEGACY: RENEWAL OF THE MUSIC
SCENE IN PUNK POST MUSIC
« Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? » John Lyndon closed by these symbolic
words the last representation of Sex Pistols in the Winterland in San Francisco in January,
1978. John Lyndon left the Sex Pistols, marking the end of on the punk movement's iconic
group. The beginning of year 1978 is also marked by the closedown of the Roxy Club, the
main punk club of London. The countercultural and antiestablishment aspect of punk
movement were already weakened by its marketing from 1977, in 1978 the musical
movement seemed to have lost its sense. Disappointed by this evolution, fans wondered and
worried about the state of the punk movement.
2.1 Is Punk Dead? Continual questionings about the state of punk in 1978
Fanzines showcased from 1978 a nostalgic look on the 1976-1977 punk scene. The
fanzine LiveWire published in May, 1978 an issue redrawing the key groups’ career of the
early punk scene such as The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned or still Heartbreakers and
The Jam: “This issue looks back at what happened to bands who emerged in 76 and 77”143.
Although most of these groups still existed, this number was consisted of retrospective
narratives, led to the past and soaked with nostalgia: “I will never forget the night at the
Roundhouse” or, “They were the real punk band”. Most of these articles also take the look of
a tribute: « The Pistols started it all. They wouldn’t be a LiveWire without the Pistols or the
bands that followed them. I was pleased that they split up, because they achieved everything
without going stale. No doubt about it, they were THE BAND.”144 LiveWire is part of the first
generation of London punk fanzines which covered the development of the scene in 1976 and
1977. While being interested in the new groups of 1978, some of these fanzines adopted a
backward-looking and idealistic point of view over the punk scene’s very beginning. At the
same moment were published books which returned too on what became the years of glory of
the punk: for example the journalist Caroline Coon published 1988: The New Wave Punk
Rock Explosion, compiling photos, articles, extracts of fanzines and interviews, whereas the
143
Live Wire, issue 17 , May 1978, p.3.
144
Live Wire, issue , May 1978, p.3.
48
book Punk published by Julie Davis went out at the same moment. These reviews seemed to
make the obituary of punk. At the beginning of year 1978, the first generation key groups of
the new wave such as the Heartbreakers, the Clash or the Stranglers became stars. The time
when these groups were very close to their public, and played in small rooms seemed well far.
In 1977 for example CBS recruited The Clash; their first one single "White Riot" raised
charts. Their first album "The Clash" ranked 12 at the top of sales. Fans still appreciated their
music, but, inevitably, their success made idols of them. They embodied from that moment
the image of rock star for which the punk had tried to demystify: « now they’re as lazy as rich
heavy-metal groups like Led Zep who do bugger-all”.145
Nevertheless The Clash remained faithful to a part of the movement’s identity, by chanting on
the second face of their single «In 1977, no Elvis no Beatles or Rolling Stones ». Moreover,
CBS having extracted "Remote Controle" of their first album, the group answered by taking
out "Complete Control", realized by the producer of reggae Lee Perry, and showed that they
could keep some autonomy. Their collaboration with the musical industry was not so much a
problem for their fans, which showed themselves comprehensive, although disappointed, on
this point. However, their success and their new status made them lose their credibility as
spokesman of the youth; the fans rebel against the prices of their concerts in halls as the
Rainbow who marked for them a clear separation between the group and its public: “I had to
pay 2 fucking quid to get in. […] Are they supposed to be a garage band? Are they trying to
be « political » by singing songs about living on the dole? Are they trying to say they CARE?
[…] they should be able to charge less now than when they were playing the small places a
year ago. Screw the last penny out of they fans-they don’t care.”146 Also the clothing style of
the first supporters of the new wave, trivialized by the press and got back by fashion industry,
lost its antiestablishment and innovative character. A large number of young people adopted
the punk "dress", making of this style a fashion as another one. Billy Idol, founder of the
group Generation X, and then guitarist of the group Chelsea, made this report during an
interview given to the fanzine Ripped and Torn: “In 1975 we were all standing in funny
clothes and dyed, sticky-up hair and stuff and you just thought ‘I’m me, with these clothes
on’. A year later it’s suddenly called punk rock and now everyone who looks like that is a
punk rocker.”147 The young people so get themselves torn T-shirts, leather jackets and pants
145
146
Chainsaw, issue 7, 1978, p.7
147
Ripped &Torn, issue 15 p.19.
49
bondage sold very expensive on King’s Road, even though this clothing style was easy to
make oneself without spending a lot of money. The exaggerated style and DIY of punk style
was from then totally deprived of its substance. Besides, the punk-rock was supposed to
embody and to denounce the consequences of the economic crisis, and the faults of the British
society: these concerns about the appearance were contradictory, and contributed for some to
return the insipid and unnecessary movement. “You get blokes « on the dole » wearing £35
bondage trousers; £6.95 Destroy T-shirt and green dyed hair” Charlie Chainsaw underlined in
1978. Mark Perry, in one of the last publication of Sniffin’Glue, reminds the readers about the
subversive character of the movement: “EVERY ONE OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS
SHOULD BE A POTENTIAL H-BOMB, NOT A FUCKING CLOTHES HANGER”148.
So for many the punk movement definitively lost its essence in 1978. The whole
culture being codified and trivialized from now on, the movement seemed to have lost the
anti-authority dimension which were soaked its music, its discourse, and its style. Punk which
had defined itself as an underground culture created and maintained by the young people for
the young people seemed to be in the hands of the musical and fashion industry. Then, it
developed various interpretations about the state of the punk movement in 1978. For some the
movement was definitively ended: “Punk, New wave…call it what you will…it’s dead…[…]
because that moment when you come up with something original , the capitalists seize it from
you, mellow it down, hype it up and sell it back to you…”149 For other fans, more optimistic,
the movement was in a phase of transition, and was evolving. So, they had to continue to
participate in its renewal, to maintain the movement on the march: “play your part in
MAKING AN EFFORT to keep the whole damn punkmobile on the road and moving forward
or else COP OUT. GIVE UP MAAAN”.150 The bibliography on punk is shared in the same
way on the chronology of punk. Numerous authors place the end of the movement in 1978,
symbolized by Sid Vicious' death in February, which left places to new spheres of musical
influences. Others assert that the punk movement continued over the next thirty years, and in
particular in the United-States: 1978 marked only the end of the first punk wave. In fact this
debate about the chronology of the movement reveals the difficulty to define this ill-assorted
alternative culture. Indeed, punk never established a cohesive and precise movement: the
punk nebula gathered young people of various origins and profiles around a music of diverse
148
149
Skum, issue 7, January 1978, p.4.
150
Ripped & Torn, issue 15, p.14.
50
influences. “I always thought punk rock was individualistic. I never believed in the punk rock
movement because I just didn’t think it was there. When you met all the people it wasn’t a
cohesive movement, it was just different groups forming and it just happened that a lot of the
ideas were similar.”151
The idea to belong to an alternative culture, to contribute completely to its formation,

and to its development is one of the doubtless fundamental characteristic of the movement.
Musical impact of punk can be measured in analyzing the influence it had on the following
years of its “decline”.
2.2 Extensions of punk in the diversity of post-punk movement
The term post-punk vaguely designates various musical genres that emerged after
1977. The post-punk came out of the darkness at the Futurama festival on 8 and 9 September
1979 at the Queens Hall in Leeds. The first day of the festival welcomed bands such as
Orchestral Maneuver in the Dark, Cabaret Voltaire, Joy Division and Public Image Limited.
The second day appeared succesively Echo & the Bunnymen, Scritti Politti, and the Only
Ones PiL. Most post-punk trends were found in this festival.152
Some bands like The Only Ones and PiL are musically the closest heirs of punk. Other
bands such as the MDGs, and Echo & the Bunnymen brought punk to a synth-pop music, also
represented by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Ultravox, forming a trend sometimes
called "electro-pop", "synth-pop" or "techno-pop". Another trend offers an extremely
pessimistic vision of a world in decline, and took the name of "cold wave" in the late 1970s.
In the same time, some groups from declining industrial cities of northern England as
Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool made a so-called “industrial music”: Cabaret
Voltaire was the leading representative; The Human League, Throbbing Gristle and The
Normal Daniel Miller were also associated with this avant-garde electronic sounds. Most
bands of cold wave and industrial music were formed in London or in post-industrial cities,
and have in common that they evolved in a world in decline and increasingly technical: the
sounds of their music embodied the decadence of post-industrial cities. The industrial music
151
Ripped & Torn, issue 15, p.14.
152
Christophe PIRENNE, Op.cit., p.317.
51
and in particular the cold wave conveyed a particularly pessimistic ideology, their music
incarnated the sinister picture of an industrial society in decline. For example, The Fall, a
band from Manchester, denounced in the title “Industrial Estate” (1979) pollution released by
the industry.153 The sounds of Joy Division also built an image of a cold and decayed
environment: Christophe Pirenne characterized this music in two essential features: "the
systematic addition of digital delays that provide the group with a typical cavernous space
sound and the adoption of a finely crafted production [...]. If the echo and reverb gives them
coldness, the total separation of the recordings, once re-associated, transforms the rhythm into
a mechanical and disjointed object."154 This pessimism was also found in fanzines graphics
published in 1978, and even more in 1979. For example, the aesthetic of the first issue of the
fanzine All The Poets, published in September 1979, embodied the themes of stress, cold,
urban decay. The unstructured layout, the photo processing, sometimes cut, sometimes torn,
evoked a chaotic universe. Black and red colors, tools used in a brutal way, causing ink stains
and erasures, the tortured and scribbled drawings, the washed-out photos, each of these
choices were involved in the post-apocalyptic feeling given by the fanzine.155Among post-
punk bands, the Gang of Four, the Slits, the Raincoats, combined the ascetic and concise
nature of punk with reggae and funk components. More obviously attached to the new wave
and punk, some bands essentially took their influences from the Velvet Underground and
David Bowie, yet constituting another trend characterized by mournful and desolate climates
of which Siouxsie & The Banshees and Magazine were the precursors and Joy Division and
the Cure were the most outstanding representatives.156 Some bands like Sham 69, the UK
Subs, the Irish Stiff Little Fingers and the Undertones were less innovative, and belonged to a
second generation of punk bands directly issued from the first one. The post-punk scene of
London was also marked by a series of covers of "retro" styles as the mod style, initiated by
The Jam , or the rockabilly with bands like Whirlwind.157 However, all of these trends had
common characteristics. Their aesthetic inspirations came from multiple sources, with lyrics
inspired by both experimental science fiction and works by Alfred Jarry or Dada. Graphic
designers were inspired by many different artistical trends such as Russian Constructivism or
Bauhaus and De Stijl art movements. Also, their music borrows rhythms from black urban
music, emaciated sounds from some bands from Krautrock, and production techniques from
153
Ibid.
154
Ibid. p.321.
155
All The Poets, issue 1, September 1979.
156
Michka ASSAYAS, Op. cit., “New Wave”, p.1269.
157
Ripped & Torn, issue 10, February 1978, p.15.
52
Jamaica. These avant-gardist and literary experiments and influences could be explained
partly because some of the post-punk musicians had gone through art school, while many key
figures of the post-punk like John Lyndon and Mark E. Smith of The Fall were self-taught
amateurs: the name of The Fall was inspired by the example of Albert Camus' novel La
Chute.158
Fanzines published in 1978 covered the entire post-punk scene, some focusing one or
more patterns of movement, according to the musical taste of their creators. This form of
alternative media is now well established. The London fanzines related more or less directly
to the punk music were now numerous. The reviews made by some fanzines on their
counterparts provided an overview of the magnitude of the number of titles published:
Peroxide listed in February 1980 forty different titles.159 It is difficult to establish an exact
figure, but there were at least fifty fanzines in London between 1978 and 1980. They were
more detailed compared to the first generation of punk fanzines, and had about thirty pages in
average. Their content was increasingly diverse: interviews, CD reviews and Top-50,
numerous photographs, drawings, letters and other contributions from readers, poems, various
tips and tricks, and even travelogues. They had a strong distribution network, consisting
essentially of many new independent record companies. Rough Trade is the main distributor
of fanzines: in most cases the address to contact the editors is that of Rough Trade, while the
editors of fanzines published between 1976 and 1977 generally indicated their home address.
Jamming also recalled the central role of Rough Trade in the distribution of the alternative
press: "The biggest fanzine distributors at the mo 'are Rough Trade. "160 We distinguish in this
profusion a core of the most influential fanzines, frequently referenced in the music press and
established in other fanzines. White Stuff, Live Wire, Ripped & Torn, Chainsaw and Panache
and fanzines were the reference. These fanzines, created between 1976 and 1977, emerged
from the first generation of punk fanzines. While wearing a nostalgic look to the punk scene
of 1976/1977 that they considered "dead" or at best "sick", they encouraged readers to stay
involved by focusing on bands of "the second generation". Ripped & Torn became
particularly influential while Sniffin'Glue stopped when its creator Mark Perry decided to
focus on his band TV Personalities. In each issue, Ripped & Torn published a Top 50 of the
readers, and the selection was then broadcast by radio by DJ John Peel.161These fanzines
158
Christophe PIRENNE, Op.cit., p.322.
159
Peroxide, issue 1, February 1981 p.4.
160
Jamming, issue 9, p.3.
161
King’s Road, issue 1, November 78, p.4.
53
cover the entire post-punk scene; their editors helped each other, and were also known from
the established music press. Relations between fanzines and music press were indeed closer,
some professional journalists contributed regularly in fanzines. For example, Vivien
Goldman, a journalist who worked successively for NME, Sounds, and MM, published an
article in the tenth issue of In The City on the reggae band Culture. Weekly music press could
also help fanzines to survive by mentioning them in their pages. Jon Savage, who created the
fanzine London's Outrage became a journalist for Sounds. Mick Mercer, creator of Panache,
requested him by letter to include chronic Sounds fanzine he published in 1977: "Zines need a
bit of help. Why do not you do what you used to do [...]: - 'Fanzine Corner'-[...] the Corner
Fanzine was really good cos there'd be four or five reviewed in a bit of detail and there was
room to put their address in all which you need meant could people send it in for people in
far-off places could get it then INSTEAD [...] get from -shops-where we lose at least 5p per
copy to the shop-[...] All which Meant it cost us (Panache) 35p to print on an issue-ad we get
20p back "162 These well-established fanzines were in fact not exempt from financial
difficulties that were frequently mentioned.
Alongside these major titles, more recent and less influential general fanzines were
published, in particular smaller Skum, In The City, Jamming, or Rapid Eye Movement. Some
focused on more specific themes and trends of post-punk. For example, King's Road, was
dedicated to the promotion of self-production and independent labels. At the end of 1978,
more politicized fanzines who call themselves "anarchists" developed. While focusing on
topics such as "police oppression", they covered bands like Crass, Crisis, and The Epileptics,
whose influence was growing in 1979 and early 1980s. These fanzines were clearly against
the power and their appearance could be directly related to the growing strength of the ultra-
conservative right, which culminated with the arrival of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister
in May 1979.
162
Letter from Mick Mercer to Jon Savage enclosed with a copy of Panache, January 78.
54
CHAPTER 3 : PUNK POLITICS
3.1 The absence of a uniform political line within the punk movement
When the London punk scene first emerged it did not proclaim any particular political
opinions. Punk music rejected multiple concepts such as the Monarchy, Pink Floyd, hippies,
the music industry, Led Zeppelin etc. Fans of the first wave of punk were anti-establishment,
and claimed to be alienated from the society in which they lived, but were did not rally around
specific political or social ideals. As Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols claimed “I don’t even
know the name of the Prime Minister, so I don’t really know how anyone could describe us as
a political band.”163 However, punk was not a non-political movement as it brought economic
and social realities into rock music.
Joe Strummer from the Clash stated “We’re anti-fascist, we’re anti-violence, we’re
anti-racist, and we’re pro-creative. We’re against ignorance.” The Clash said their songs were
inspired by social realities. « Career Opporunities » evokes their times on the dole queue,
« White Riot » the Notting Hill Carnival riots, whereas « Remote Controle » denounces the
House of Lords. The band also promotes anti-imperialism, singing in “Career Opportunities”:
“I hate the army and I hate the RAF, You won’t find me fighting in the tropical heat.”
Unemployment also figured prominently in many punk songs. Chelsea took up the Socialist
Workers Party (SWP) “Right to Work” slogan for the title of one of their tracks on working
class rights. The first punks’ way of dressing was also interpreted as a form of class protest.
Their torn clothes stood in stark contrast to the gaudy style of glam rockers, and represented
working class anger. The first punks thus made a statement on the country’s economic
situation. Furthermore, historians have insisted on punk’s anti-racist engagement, especially
through its connection to reggae music, and through Rock Against Racism (RAR) and the
Anti-Nazi League (ANL). As stated previously, the late 1970s were marked by rising racial
tensions in Great Britain, partly because the rise of the National Front. Around 1976, the NF
had become the fourth largest party of Great Britain, and was aiming for the legislative
Bruce DANCIS, “Safety Pins and Class Struggle: Punk Rock and the Left », Socialist Review, Number 39
163
(Vol 8, No. 3), May-June 1978, p.58.

55
elections. The Conservative Party, which was in opposition until 1979, also tried to make the
race question into an election issue, by claiming to speak on the behalf of the white working
class. The Labour government did not involve itself in the fight against racism in government
institutions, in schools and on the job market.164 It was from this context that the Rock
Against Racism organisation was created, under the influence of SWP, especially as a
reaction to Eric Clapton’s declarations is favour of Enoch Powell, a leading anti-immigration
politician, saying that Britain should stop to becoming a “black colony.” RAR’s main slogan
was “Love music, hate racism” for the hundreds of concerts and gatherings organised all
around the country to fight racism and the rise of the NF. RAR also published Temporary
Hoarding, a fanzine, which gathered information on racism, sexism and fascism, in 12000
copies in 1979. The carnivals organised jointly by the RAR and the ANL were headlined by
punk and reggae groups, and were the largest organised events denouncing racism since the
war. Yet, as Roger Sabin underlines, punk’s commitment to anti-racism has been over
estimated by historians. The fact that punk groups performed at RAR concerts does not
necessarily imply anti-racist ideals on their behalf. Bob Grover, guitarist of punk band Piranha
explained to the editor of Rapid Eye Movement: “The Rock Against Racism tour gigs you did
=how much was that to do with publicity=seeking and how much was that to do with genuine
commitment?” : «as a band, our first thought was that it was a gig . We wouldn’t have done it
if it had conflicted with our beliefs, but I must admit I never thought about it consciously.
Racism was a new word to me=I’ve never had anything against anybody.” Zoot Allures,the
saxophonist, added “All the little bands use it just to get their names head.” To which the
editor emphatically adds “That’s why I asked the question.”165 The question is in fact often
asked of punk groups, as the majority took part in the RAR concerts for the money, of for the
publicity it created. The organization was therefore often criticized in the fanzines, both by
musicians and editors who did not like to see their organisation used in this way. Mark Smith
from The Fall demonstrates this opinion concerning the RAR by the following comment: “we
used to do gigs with them until it looked as if they were using us […] they were asking us to
do benefits gigs, and the money was going to go so big bands could do free gigs.”166
Furthermore, the fanzines published little, almost no content on the rise of racism in the
1970s. The interviews with punk groups and their lyrics contained few references to racism.
What is more, the younger punks participating in this alternative culture could perhaps not
164
Roger SABIN, Op. Cit,p.200.
165
Rapid Eye Movement, issue 1, Winter 1979, p.7.
166
Jamming, issue 9, 1979, p. 27.
56
help being influenced by the all-pervasive racism that was seeping through society and, as the
rest of the British population, some could agree with some of the National Front’s ideas. The
National Front actively sought out new recruits from young sub-cultures, especially hip ones
like punk and the skinhead movement which was gaining popularity by the end of the 1970s.
The National Front’s publications like Bulldog tried to bring out a fascist angle from punk
lyrics and National Front shops started to sell punk clothing. Punk fanzines influenced by
fascism started to appear, like The Punk Front,167 and fascist clubs like the ‘F’Club in Leeds,
the Column 88 in Gatsby168, Whitley Bay- where punk bands linked to the NF performed,
such as The Dentists, The Ventz, Crap and Tragic Minds. Under the influence of the NF,
these groups formed the Rock Against Communism organisation in March 1979, to counter
the RAR, and set up a handful of far-right wing punk concerts. Other forms of xenophobia
and anti-Semitism less attached to any political organisation appeared in punk such as
Siouxsie and the Banshees’ song ‘Love in a Void’ that there were “too many Jews for my
liking.” Making right arm salutes on stage during performances. The same symbols are
recurrent in Slaughter and The Dogs concerts « But the singer did Nazi salutes in that song
which they could have done without. There was (sic) also a few swastika armbands in the
audience which was a fucker.”169 The image of a violent movement has stuck to punk in
particular because of the multiple instances of violence that would break out in the audience.
These riots were a frequent part of concerts and serious force was used, and the media
pictured it as one of the essential characteristics of the movement. Certain aspects of punk
seemed very brutal and disquieting to contemporary spectators, such as the way fans danced
at concerts. The pogo, the punk dance, was essentially fast paced jumping up and down, and
could be danced in pairs or groups who hold each other around the neck or shoulders and
jump together. At concerts were the whole audience danced the pogo, collisions were
inevitable.
At the end of the year 1978 a sub-genre of the punk/post-punk movement appeared,
including bands such as Crass, Subhumans, Poison Girls and Conflict, which consisted of
anarchist punk bands. Anarchist rhetoric and practice had been present in punk from the
beginning, but did not become a clear political vindication of the movement until the late
1970s. By the end of the year 1967, with the song “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols,
167
Roger SABIN, Op. Cit., p.203
168
The New Musical Express, 22 January 1977.
169
Chainsaw, issue 5, p. 12
57
anarchism became a salient feature of the punk movement. Anarchy was first evoked by the
first punks rhetorically, to convey the feeling of unease and provocation it contains. Anarchy
was at that time spoken of in pejorative terms in the media and evoked chaos and disorder.
This term was not interpreted in the political and philosophical context, but rather as hell on
earth as a consequence of the absence of any form of government and social norm. The notion
of anarchy was all the more dangerous in the atmosphere of economic and societal decline in
Britain. The first punk’s references to anarchy was only for the shock value.170 They also
regularly referred to the symbols of World War II and the Nazi Party in a provocative way,
for example in the song “Hiroshima Mon Amour” by Ultravox or in “Belsen was a Gas” by
the Sex Pistols. Jamie Reid also used the swastika frequently in the Sex Pistols’ iconography,
just as Arturo Vega did with the Ramones. The swastika was also worn on the upper arm or
on t-shirts by the early punks. During this period, the State frequently paid homage to the
victims of World War II, with many memorial days, ceremonies and symbols in honour of
patriotism. To disrespect the memory of these soldiers and the civilians who lost their lives
during the war and to subvert the nazi symbol was extremely shocking. This is what Don
Letts evokes when they talk about young punks wearing t-shirts with the word “anarchy”
scribbled on them. “I mean, ‘Anarchy’, the fuckers don’t know what that means. The kids
don’t know what they’re talking about.” 171 Even the lyrics of the Clash, which were supposed
to incarnate the political conscience of punk, did not contain a clear political commentary or
commitment. Thus the movement seemed to be fetering out and that it had lost its subversive
dimension in 1977 in part because the political conscience of punk barely existed. The punks
and their contemporaries could see that a new order had not been established, the musical
industry had not been shaken, society had not been obliterated. Don Lett, the DJ of Roxy who
had seen the punk movement come to life, claimed in an interview with Mark Perry that the
punk “revolution” just as hippie culture, had no impact because of its lack of direction.
« When it all started off I was amazed, I never seen any movement move so quick, right,
tremendous potential. All the kids caught on to something, they got on to an idea. […] Then
what? Nuthin’right, it’s stopped at there. “We’re gonna change, we’re gonna change!”, the
hippies said, “We’re gonna change”-all that peace and love bit-and what did they do?
Nuthin’!”172 The Punk culture seemed to reject various elements of society without bringing
170
Jim DONAGHEY, “Bakunin Brand Vodka An Exploration into Anarchist-punk and Punk-anarchism”,
Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies, Blasting the Canon, 2013.
171
172
58
forth any meaningful solutions. “What do they say something, why don’t say what they think,
if they think anything.” Yet in many ways the punk movement can be read as the expression
of youthful anger and rebellion.
Therefore, it is difficult to discern a political analysis from the messages the punk
movement was broadcasting, for punk did not represent a homogenous ideology. Some
fractions claimed to be completely apolitical, while others were very politically vocal such as
the Jam and The Clash. The proclamations of the members of the main punk bands were
definitely not seen as exemplary by the majority of their fans, so they do not illustrate a
specific punk political line.
3.2 The punk scene as an anti-sexist and homo-friendly platform
Rock critic Charles Young underlines the long tradition of sexism that dominated the
history of rock when he affirms that “a long line of rock misogynists that began with Elvis
calling some girl a hound dog.” Charles Young considers that the punk movement did not
question this tradition, and adds that it “is certainly no better place for women than any other
rock scene, and in crucial instances is worse.”173
While it was relatively asexual to begin with, the punk scene became slightly more
male-orientated as in so many other rock genres. However, punk rock saw the emergence of
important figures such as Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Poly Styrene and Siouxsie Siou. Several
women played a prominent role in mostly male bands. There were also all-female bands such
as The Slits, The Raincoats, The Mo-dettes, LilliPut, the Iconoclats and later on the Chalk
Circle, L7, Frightwig, Babes in Toylands and the Lunachicks. Male/female bands include
Crass, Les Au Pairs, Les Innocents and Delta 5. Lucy Toothpaste of the fanzine Jolt, which is
considered as one of the first feminist punk fanzines, along with More-On and Apathy in
Ilford, considers that punk was a way to break away from the sexist conventions of rock
music.174 As anyone could participate in the emergence of the punk scene, she hoped that the
punk movement would be women’s chance to establish themselves on the music scene. : “ I
think it’s a mistake for women to think it’s a mistake for women to think they shouldn’t play
173
Bruce DANCIS, Op.Cit., p.58
174
Fabien HEIN, Op.Cit, p.80.
59
rock, should only play nice gentle folk songs and all that crap. New wave music is crisis
music, and we’re all in the crisis. Angry women should make an angry noise. Love and peace
didn’t work. Rock is one of the ways in which women have been oppressed, I agree, but let’s
grab our chance to change that now.”175 Lucy Toothpaste underlines that punk movement, in
its infancy, encouraged women to start bands because of their group-work talents. However,
she adds that punk was not inherently an anti-sexist movement, and that misogyny is
prevalent in punk. When a female group, or a group with a female artist performed, sexist
remarks (“Take it off!”) and wolf whistles could often be heard. Most of the concert critiques
published in the fanzines did not only contain comments on the musical performance. « I wish
she had stripped off » is a frequent observation, as are other sexist comments. Around 1978,
the organisation Rock against Sexism is created, inspired by Rock against Racism. According
to Les, guitarist and singer of Au Pair, this organisation supported young women who wanted
to start a band, by promoting young female groups. “ I think it’s achieved something, that it’s
puts on gigs that have women in bands, or mixed bands.”176 However, Les criticises RAS for
the same reasons as most punk bands did for RAR, explaining that the organisation did not
have a significant impact on sexism but made female groups trendy and easier to sell. “now
it’s become the in thing to have women in bands, which I think is one of the repercussions of
something like RAS.” He concludes by an anecdote provided by the band Girlschool, which
illustrates the atmosphere in which female punk bands evolved: “the were telling us that they
did a gig up north and the guy that was running it said ‘I ‘ll give you £500 more if you’ll do it
topless !”177
These problems women in the punk movement encountered are similar to those that
homosexual punks faced. The question was first raised by the glam-rock movement in the
early 1970s, by the sexually ambiguous artists such as David Bowie, Roxy Music and the
New York Dolls. On the punk scene, Wayne County was the first punk transvestite, and
became the first transsexual punk in the late 1970s. He took up the name Jane County after
her operation. At the same time, many punk musicians in Britain and America such as Pete
Shelley from the Buzzcocks, Andy Martin from the Apostles, Darby Crash from the Germs,
Gary Floyd from the Dicks, Randy “Biscuit” Turner form the Big Boys, Fabian Kwes from
Raped and Dave Dictor from MDC were openly gay.178 The punk movement, as an alternative
175
Jolt, issue 2, 1977, p.5.
176
Jamming, issue 9, 1978, p.11.
177
Jamming, issue 9, 1978, p.12
178
Fabien HEIN, Op.cit., 86.
60
and libertine culture seemed to accept all types of personalities. Tony D from Ripped and
Torn considered that the punk scene encouraged its readers to be open-minded and gave an
example of his own open-mindedness concerning the band Raped: “When I told people I was
going to interview Raped they said ‘don’t you know they’re a gay band. They kiss on stage
and stuff’. I didn’t, but it didn’t alter my opinion of them.”179 He considered the punk
movement capable of making youths more tolerant and open-minded, and explained in a short
article that he appreciates the fact that the punk scene is open to all kinds of people: at a recent
punk gig I overhead a male transvestite say that, at last he’d found a place where he could
stand amongst a crowd of people and not get everyone staring at him, because of his
appearance.” He does explain though that “Not everyone under the name of punk can accept
these people, but well that’s another issue.”180 Indeed, there are examples of a more hostile
atmosphere. H.R., singer of American punk band Bad Brain, was one of those who
propagated homophobic discourse.181
At the beginning of the 1990s, the DIY had for a mission get people to think of
different sexual orientations in a more positive way. A niche market of “queer” was carved
out in the US and in Britain by groups like Team Dresch, Tribe 8, Fifth Column, Sister
George and more; by labels like Outpunk, Chainsaw, Queercorps, Mr. Lady etc; by fanzines
(Homocore, SPEW, P.C. etc.); by festivals such as Queeruption in Manchester, Dirtybird 96
Queercore Festival in San Francisco and clubs like Rock’n’Doris in Newcastle, Vaseline in
London among others.182
179
Ripped & Torn, issue 11, April 1978, p.11.
180
Ripped & Torn, issue 11, April 1978, p.18.
181
Fabien HEIN, Op.cit., 86.
182
Ibid., p.88.
61
PART 3: MOVING FORWARD OR GIVE IT UP: PUNK’S LEGACY PUNK IN THE
EARLY 1980S
62
CHAPTER 1 : RENEWAL AND PRESERVATION OF AN
ALTERNATIVE MUSIC NETWORK
At the end of the 1970s, cold wave had become an aesthetic trend in the post-punk
with its mechanical and cold tones. This trend persisted for several years, followed by
bands such as The Cure or Cabaret Voltaire, but it is criticized in the very early 1980s by
the music press. The pessimistic and apocalyptic world-view it conveyed with also
industrial music was indeed not shared by all. The second issue of All The Poets, while
maintaining spontaneous DIY graphic design, presents bright colors and a more cheerful
aesthetic than the first issue, and so rejects this depressing message projected by cold
wave and industrial musical: « we are sick of the negativity in everything today
concerning « youth », we are directly opposed to the scene, the music scene etc etc […]
Honestly do you really think the Fall are doing anything at all, theres (sic) just so much
monotonous grey droning wasteland music around which passes for something
different.”183
1.1 The descendances of post-punk in the early 1980s
Trends from post punk developed in moving to the opposing of punk, asserting a
taste for easy melodies, dance, fashion, and using only new electronic stringed
instruments. They differed from the dark sounds and repertoire of cold wave.
Electro-pop that had appeared in the late 1970s reached the height of its popularity in
the early 1980s. Meanwhile, a new trend emerged in post-punk: new romantics with the
Adam & The Ants group as figurehead. Adam & The Ants was originally a punk band
which drew its subversion from some sadomasochistic texts. Malcolm McLaren, after the
fall of the Sex Pistols, became the manager of the group. With Vivienne Westwood, he
gave to this group a military look inspired of the eighteenth century and movies
swashbuckling. He encouraged them to incorporate into their music "tribal" rhythms.He
183
All The Poets, issue 2, 1980, p.28
63
sacked Adam from his own group, and renamed it Bow Wow Wow, which had latter little
impact. But his way Adam recruited two batters to went further than McLaren
’suggestions, and launched a true "Antmania" in England with the success of “Kings of
the Wild Frontier” (1980) and “Prince Charming” (1981). He took on a heroic image by
taking a Victorian aristocrat look mixed with make-up and an "Iroquian" haircut. The new
romantic movement was also represented by bands such as Visage and Culture Club. The
new romantic style was inspired by the flashy glam rock style, mixing the outrageous
makeup to sexually ambiguous postures. Electro-pop and the new romantic style reached
their peak by 1981-1982, around outstanding hits such as “Dare” by Human League, or
the cover of the northern soul song “Tainted Love” (1982) by Soft Cell. Some songs by
Ultravox, the Orchestral Manoeuvre in the Dark, and Japan, and the new band Depeche
Mode appeared in the Top 10. Some groups also reintroduced acoustic elements in their
music, such as ABC, Heaven 17, Duran Duran and Culture Club, and started therefore a
current which is now called "new pop", and who knew its heyday by 1982 -1983.184
Another subculture also emerged from post punk which had appeared at the very end
of 1970s: gothic rock, with its lugubrious atmosphere, began to really distinguish itself at
the beginning of 1980s. Its representatives established a style and music inspired by
fantastic romanticism and kitsch horror movies. Their clothing style mixed Victorian and
fetishist dresses: leathers, nails, and hats top of shape get involved in a deathly make-up.
Their music borrowed from psychedelic, and integrated simple melodies of punk mixed
with effects as the flanger, the reverberation, the delay, and with very clear sounds of
guitar. The frequent minor tones as well as the bass, ringing in a deep and grave way, gave
a dark climate to the mix. This music has reminded groups such as Joy Division, Bauhaus,
Siouxsie and The Banshees, or Gary Numan, and was essentially produced by the
independent label 4AD. At the beginning of 1980s, the term new wave includes all these
trends. However, this word described mainly any musical styles which favor in their tones
the electricity to the electronics. The new wave knew resurgence around The Police and
U2 who pull in their trail other groups already present for a few years like the Stranglers,
the Pretenders, or Echo and the Bunnymen.185
On the other hand, beyond these trends which ensue from post-punk, we also found a
less directed influence of the punk in the first resurgence of Ska at the beginning of 1980s.
184
Christophe PIRENNE, op.cit., p. 373.
185
Ibid., p.319.
64
This revival kept certain characteristics of Ska of 1960s: "Ska of the end of 1970s kept the
systematic accentuation of the setback, the removed tempos and the formations containing
almost always a brass section." On the other hand tempo was faster, and the influence of
punk gave to its tones a cutting sounds. Ska of 1980s beginning associated Blacks and
Whites people within groups as the Specials, the Selecter or The Beat; their graphic and
clothing representations allied the black and the white as well. These groups were
gathered under the firm Two Tone founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers, the keyboard
player of the Specials. Their texts took openly a political dimension.186 The groups of Two
Tone knew a big success at the beginning of 1980s; some of these formations were closer
to punk in 1977. Then, their movement became popular among skinheads, rude boys and
mods.187 It also developed at the beginning of 1980s punk's hardcore trend which aimed to
be the lineal heir of punk rock: this musical genre returns the energy and the aggressive
character of the punk-rock, and, by pushing the principle of do-it-yourself to its paroxysm,
tried to make music a tool of social change. Hardcore punk developed essentially in the
United States. In England, its influence was marginal; it gathered a very active community
around groups such as Crass, The Exploited, Discharge, which became particularly visible
at the beginning of 1980s, although it was a minority.
Although punk music knew a phase of decline from 1978, its musical impact was
measurable through its influences and its extra time in post-punk and in more distant
musical genres such as Ska. This evolution and this renewal of the English musical scene
were particularly visible through fanzines. Indeed, the alternative scene which had formed
with punk between 1976 and 1978 around fanzines, independent labels, record dealers,
participants and various places establishing this network did not disappear with the
decline of punk. This whole scene was renewed and evolved by integrating new musical
trends which emerged at the end of 1970s. Some fanzines which had been born with the
punk remained and developed, by covering this whole new musical scene. Fanzines such
as Panache, Chainsaw, In The City and Jamming indeed covered artists so diverse as
Adam and the Ants, Bauhaus, The Beat, Ultravox, Gary Numan, The Jam or The Fall. At
the same time, new fanzines emerged, and adopted the ethics DIY glorified by punk, to
cover these new trends. Jamming listed in its eleventh issue about sixty fanzines from
various places in Great-Britain.
186
Ibid. p.326.
187
65
The production of fanzines did not get out of breath. All these fanzines kept a more or
less direct connection with the musical scene, but tackled issues were diverse. Some of
them concentrated only on a musical trend, such as fanzines centered on Adam and The
Ants, or those connected with hardcore-punk spheres of influence that are closer to
political manifestoes. We shall also found feminist fanzines (Brass Lip), others which
published comics (Biff, Crisis), poems (All The Poets), or articles and images on various
dances (Dance Crazy).
1.2 Renewal et preservation of fanzines
While the punk movement is breathless from 1978, fanzines remained active, were
renewed, and kept their status of alternative press. After a phase of pessimism in 1978
when the writers felt that the punk movement touched its end, and was from now on in the
hands of the musical industry and of the fashion industry, fanzines took advantage finally
of this decline to evolve.
Ripped & Torn stoped after the 17rd issue, but its creator Tony D., after a brief
journey in Europe, launched the new fanzine Kill Your Pet Puppy. He innovated by
creating this short publication of less than 20 pages: the contents and the esthetics of the
fanzine differ radically from those of Ripped & Torn. Kill Your Pet Puppy consisted of
short interviews interrupted with drawings, with extracts of comics and with photos. Tony
D. adopted an even more personal aspect than in Ripped & Torn, by telling in particular
his wanderings and his setbacks in Europe. In every copy he renewed the contents of the
fanzine, by not confining itself to the usual directory of the punks’ publications - reviews,
interviews, charts -, thanks to that, he tried to propose an innovative and entertaining
experience to the readers : “Tonight we are going to SMASH through the boundaries of
EXPECTATION, of conformity ; […] every effort has been made to make ‘Kill Your Pet
Puppy’ the most original, positive, educational and above all entertainingly aware
experience”188. Having from that moment the possibility of publishing his fanzine in
colors, he made new graphic experiences by using diluted ink, and so created an lively
188
Kill You Pet Puppy, issue 2, February/March 1980, p.3.
66
layout in multicolored tones. He carried on inciting his readers to imitate him and to
participate, by reminding that a fanzine can be very simply created:“theres (sic) no
technique that I used in printing this that you couldn’t do. It’s been put together on the
floor with felt pens, glue & siccors (sic)” , or even : “all the colours and techniques used
can be done by anyone-I do it all on the floor of my room, so could you if you
tried”.189 The whole sent a positive message: on the cover of the first issue is written this
message: “Hey Punk…Bring a positive force into your life”.190
After the end of Ripped & Torn, Jamming became with In The City, one of the most
influential punks’ fanzines at the beginning of 1980s. In 1980, sales were rather profitable
to allow its writer - who has just “left school” - to dedicate himself to his fanzine full-
time: “I felt Jamming had the capabilities to become an even better fanzine, and I needed
the time to organize & run it. As it as making money anyway, it seemed the right thing to
do to make this full time.”191 The writer explained that these profits would have allowed
the fanzine to be more complete and more varied, and so he defended himself from those
who already qualified him as "sell-out" or as "capitalist pig". The fanzines which became
lucrative as Jamming and In The City were indeed frequently slandered in the other titles:
they found themselves in front of this peculiar difficulty met by all the successful fanzines
to combine their authenticity as an alternative publication and commercial success. Then,
when the editor of Jamming published the eleventh issue during year 1980, he wanted to
innovate, in order to lay stress on its status of fanzine: “Jamming’s going to become more
into being a fanzine, with the aims of helping groups, writing about lesser-known band
while doing big interviews because the bands are good and we can do better interviews
than the weeklies. So really this issue is no. 1 in many ways, not no.11”. This evolution
also had to be made on the aspect: “the layout, format, price, contents may all change
suddenly so it doesn’t become stale”.192 Although less whimsical than Kill Your Pet
Puppy, Jamming was published from that moment in colors too. Panache and Chainsaw
were also fanzines of which the writers were present and active in the punk scene since
1977. Their contents also evolved from the beginning of 1980s. Panache began for
example to publish from 1980 movie critics: The Tempest of Derek Jarman (1979) in its
189
Kill You Pet Puppy, issue 2, December 1979, p.2.
190
Kill You Pet Puppy, issue 1, February/March 1980.
191
192
67
thirteenth number and Mistress of Barbet Schröder (1975) in the following one. Jamming
showed itself also opened to other cultural forms by inciting the readers to be interested in
the poetry: certain faces of the post-punk as Paul Weller indeed claimed an interest for the
literature and published collections of poetry. The writer of Jamming commented on his
book, and encouraged this tendency: “It’s an excellent book, & Paul’s owed a lot of
thanks for bringin poetry back into the youth’s mind-a healthy form of
communication.”193 The fanzine All The Poets already published "punk poems" since
1978, and Patti Smith was already inspired by Baudelaire and Rimbaud to compose her
texts. Jamming counterbalanced its hand-written and type-written condensed texts by
numerous collages photo. Chainsaw took a more politicized way, criticizing the policy of
Margaret Thatcher, and reacting in front of ideal anarchists of the fanzines who covered
the punk hardcore scene. These fanzines were open to the new trends of the musical
scene; they also widen their contents by chronicling more and more the provincial towns’
scenes, or by proposing reports about the rest of the European scene. Jamming published
for example a series of information on the Swiss punk scene by reviewing the most
notable groups and the Swiss punk fanzines, and gave for example an outline of
Birmingham’s musical scene.194
Punks’ fanzines who were established for several years tried to be also renewed to
distinguish themself from numerous fanzines which were published at the beginning of
1980s. Indeed, in every fanzine we found from critics of the other publications, and many
were considered boring and repetitive. The writer of Panache quotes in February, 1980
four titles that seemed to him worthwhile: “Most new fanzines seem hellbent on sheer
(sic) bordeom + repitition in content form and ideas.”195 The creation of fanzines at the
beginning of 1980s is indeed plentiful because of the large number of titles which
emerged with the rise of “anarcho-punk”. These fanzines such as Cobalt Hate, Toxic
Graffitty or Nihilistic Vices were real political manifestoes against Margaret Thatcher.
They all present a chaotic layout to the dark tones of red and black slogans, extracted from
newspapers and assembly of photographes collage denouncing the war. They cover little
the musical scene, concentrating on the group and the collective Crass and on its
ideologies: “Most fanzines seem to get stuck in a rut-ya real heavy A (anarchist) type or
193
194
Jamming, issue 11, 1980.
195
68
ya shitters. Not many provide a cross section of new music.”196 They are indeed rather
similar, and laborious to read: they published long texts focusing on certain contemporary
political and social aspects. They constituted a marginal punk group of publications; this
will be discussed further in the following chapter. Fanzines were also particularly plentiful
at the beginning of 1980s thanks to the action of the firm Better Badges. Better Badges
was initially a manufacturing company of badges settled in a garage of Notthing Hill, and
managed by a hippy called Joly. Joly equipped its shop in the spring, 1979 of a printing
lithograph machine, and became one of the first alternative printers in London to propose
to fanzines a publication in colors and doubled sided A4, by managing all the
iconography, and at a "pretty decent price"197 according to the writer of Jamming. Very
quickly, Better Badges took care with storing and with distributing the printed fanzines by
selling them to concerts, by correspondence, and to stores which supplied at its place with
badges. From 1980, with these printing presses, Better Badges became one of the main
printers, and distributors of fanzines with Rough Trade. Advertisements for Better Badges
were present in most of the fanzines; the readers had the possibility to order any title
published by the firm.
Thus, whereas the punk movement split up into various distinctive music trends in the
early 1980s, punk fanzines lingered on and tried to innovate by changing their graphic
design or their contents. Some of the fanzine editors acquired some experience in fanzine
publishing, but for the most part they still considered themselves amateurs. They
experimented with new techniques and new approaches in their own publications. While
some fanzines started to focus on a specific music trend or on various themes, others
offered a forum to protest against Margaret Thatcher's early policies.
196
197
69
CHAPTER 2 : MUSIC AND DIY AS FORUM FOR POLITICAL
CONTESTATION
In the early years of Margaret Thatcher’s government, the music politically engaged
seemed to be waning: firstly most of the movements in the post-punk were not committed,
and secondly Rock Against Racism organization stopped its activities. RAR mainly fought
against the rise of the National Front in Britain, but the party suffered a crushing defeat in the
1979 election. However, xenophobia found refuge in the victory of the Conservative Party,
against which RAR had also fought unsuccessfully. RAR held its farewell carnival in Leeds in
1981, bringing together 39,000 people, which was low compared to other concerts.
Nevertheless, the resurgence of ska music perpetuated the RAR fight against racial
discrimination.198 From 1980 onwards, the upheaval caused by Margaret Thatcher policy
brought musicians to use the political protest as their dominant source of inspiration.
2.1. Music against the early years of the Thatcher government
May 4, 1979 marked the victory of Conservative Party in the parliamentary elections,
and Margaret Thatcher arrival at the head of government. Margaret Thatcher served as
Minister of Education and Science from 1970 to 1974, and became leader of the Conservative
party as a result of the disaffection of parliamentarians in favour of the incumbent candidate,
former Prime Minister Edward Heath. As early as 1975, the Daily Mirror called her "the Iron
Lady" because of the strength of her character. She put in place a policy that completely broke
with the post-war consensus, which was already crumbling before her coming to power.
According to this agreement, the two main parties should seek to maintain continuity
in policies upon their exercise of power. It was based on matters that were the foundations of
Labour and Conservative government action: a priority to full employment, an acceptance and
198
Yasmine CARLET, Stand down Margaret!: l'engagement de la musique populaire britannique contre les
gouvernements Thatcher, Clermont-Ferrand : M.Séteun, 2004, p.16.
70
encouragement of the trade unions role, a mixed economy based on Keynesianism where the
state owns the nationalized industries and is the primary regulator of the economy, a set of
social policies known as the Welfare State, and the belief in a positive government action to
promote equality through regional, economic and social action. In the mid-1970s, economic
and social hardship, as well as union activism had led consensus to failure. The UK seemed
divided by the weight of regionalist claims with the revival of Gaelic movement in Wales,
electoral successes of Scottish nationalism and clashes in Northern Ireland. Britain was also
losing its sovereignty in the Commonwealth, both diplomatically and economically, Member
States diversifying their trading partners. The European issue was also a source of national
division, as it was underlying a loss of political sovereignty, and a mismatch between some
policies of the European Economic Community and national interests. The entry of Britain
into the Common Market was interpreted as a resignation measure, illustrating the decline of
the country.199 These difficulties had culminated in the Winter of Discontent at the end of
1978. The series of strikes in both the private sector and crucial public services against the
fiscal policy of the Labour government seemed to show that the country had become
ungovernable, and that the government would never come to the end of inflation.200
Consensus had emerged from a desire for social and political unity during the Second
World War, and in a sense symbolized the idea of a united country. Therefore its failure
meant the fragmentation of society in which Thatcherite values had consequently a major
impact. The policy of Margaret Thatcher broke radically with those of the post-war period. In
a nutshell, Margaret Thatcher favoured a monetarist approach to economic and social
phenomena inspired by Milton Friedman. The focus thus became the fight against inflation,
rather than the fight against unemployment. The state disengaged from the economy, free
enterprise was encouraged. Egalitarianism as a goal of social and educational policies was
rejected in favour of the praise of individual responsibility and autonomy. Thatcher also
believed in an all-powerful executive branch not to give in to pressure groups and lobbies,
especially the unions. On the diplomatic front, national defense and Britain’s assertion on the
international stage became central. In this context of disrupted political, economic and social
structures and value system, subcultures endorsed a function of power-cons. In order to fight
against the feeling of national decline, Margaret Thatcher sought to rebuild a powerful state
through its defense policy, international policy, and its mode of government leadership. She
199
Ibid. pp.22-25.
200
Ibid.
71
also worked to give back to Britain a leading role on the international stage, and to maintain
close relations with the United States. In 1979, during the Cold War, Britain asked the
installation of American missiles on its territory, which began in 1983. In 1980 the
government also announced the modernization of nuclear armament resulting two years later
in the conversion to Trident II ballistic missiles. This initiative was also intended to make
Britain the main ally of the United States in Europe against the USSR.201 This resurgence of
defence policy raised the discontent of a part of the public opinion and some pressure groups.
Part of the actors of the Britannic music scene strongly condemned the government's nuclear
ambitions and rejected through music these attempts to greatness. The musicians involved in
this sense collaborated with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarment (CDN), which resurfaced in
1981, and solidified. The anarcho-pacifist punk group Crass first introduced it in the anarcho-
punk movement, and thus contributed to its revival. Crass was firmly positioned against
nuclear weapons, and reaped funds for CND by selling records and organizing concerts. In
1981, the WEA record company released the album Live in The European Theatre against
nuclear power, including thirteen songs performed among others by The Clash, Peter Gabriel,
and The Beat. Meanwhile, The Beat donated to the CND a part of the profits of the single
"Best Friend", which included the song "Stand Down Margaret". The Style Council, the new
group of former Jam leader Paul Weller, also poured the CND some of the benefits of his first
album, Money-GoRound. Indeed, the band The Jam split in 1982. Whereas he openly
supported the Tories in 1978, Paul Weller then adopted the ideals of the left, and denounced
in Money-GoRound government expenditures "for the purpose of destruction". CND also
harvested funds co-organizing events such as the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset in 1981.
CND launched thereafter its own festival; the most famous being The Big One, held in
London at the Victoria Apollo and welcomed in particular Paul Weller, Elvis Costello and the
Irish band U2.202 The music scene thus allowed the CDN to renew and expand its activities. In
return, the association provided through festivals a platform for musicians, who encouraged
by the legacy of punk, wanted to maintain their protest dimension. Fanzines like Chainsaw
also reacted against nuclear and diplomatic ambitions of the government: "At the moment the
government pay in the area is £ 150 million a WEEK: towards the" defense "of good old
Blightly. That averages out at £ 3 a week for every man woman and child [...]. Maggot
Thatcher Seems intent on boosting our nuclear / attack, Carter could byletting His cruise
201
Ibid. p. 25.
202
Ibid.
72
missiles in East Anglia. This act of friendship, in one go turned this country into a prime
target for Russian nuclear missiles. "203
The Falklands War represented the most visible demonstration of the use of military
force by the government. And yet it did not triggered reactions as important as nuclear
rearmament. The Falkland Islands are located in the South Atlantic, and Argentina and the
United-Kingdom disagreed since the 16th century for the sovereignty of this small
archipelago. In 1964, the United Nations asked the two parties to find a diplomatic solution to
the disagreement. Margaret Thatcher refused to pass any agreement with Argentina, and
General Galtieri was finally seized by force on 2 April 1982. Britain responded by sending in
April 6000 men and 70 ships. The intervention ended with the surrender of Argentina, June
14, and contributed to the fall of the military dictatorship in Argentina. This military success
increased Margaret Thatcher’s popularity, and had a major role in her re-election in 1983.
Few titles contested this episode. Billy Bragg evoked the Falklands War in 1985 by
composing "Days like These”. However, on the independent scene, Crass song "How Does It
Feel (To Be The Mother of a Thousand Dead)?" climbed to the top of the independent charts
in 1983.204
Moreover, the Prime Minister lined the state to a strong executive power, and imposed
by using his powers with authority. Thus personalizing power, Margaret Thatcher became the
target of personal attacks in protest songs. We find this form of criticism in the title "Stand
Down Margaret" by The Beat in the late 1970s. In "No Clause 28" Boy George rebelled in
1988 against Clause 28 of the Local Government Act, which would ban the promotion of
homosexuality by public authorities. The singer directly spoke to the Prime Minister "Tell me,
Iron Lady." The same year Morrissey, former lead singer of The Smiths, produced one of the
most significant attacks against Margaret Thatcher, with the explicit song "Margaret On The
Guillotine". These shares remained external to the political system. Since 1983, artists began
to participate in discussions on the development of legislation and the implementation of
decisions, by providing support to the Great Miners' strike in 1984-1985, as well as a leading
Campania against the Youth Training Scheme in 1985.205 Anarcho-punk fanzines show the
same kind of personal attacks against Margaret Thatcher.
203
Chainsaw, issue 10, March/April 1978, p.3.
204
Yasmine CARLET, op.cit., p.33.
205
Ibid. p.35.
73
2.2. The anarcho-punk anti-war movement: the DIY as political manifesto
In the third issue of his fanzine, the editor of Toxic Graffitty expressed his vision of the
punk movement: “At its start punk was a cry for anarchy and freedom, and it was individuals
doing their own thing, then the organized left moved in, and what our play ground (the
enemy), retreated in confusion, frustration, and anger, hadn’t it been our music?”206. Punk
disappointed fans found in the anarcho-pacifist movement that developed in the early 1980s a
response to the commercialization of punk. The band “Crass” believed that the authenticity of
punk was based on its independence and libertarian values. At its beginnings, the punk
movement had references in anarchism, but without considering anarchism as a way of
thinking or a political doctrine. These anarchist tendencies emerged around Crass in the music
scene.
Crass was more an anarchist community, and a group of musicians; this group was
composed of several people, including Steve Ignorant (vocalist), Penny Rimbaud (drummer),
G Sus (graphic), Joy de Vivre and Eve Libertine. Crass tried to apply libertarian and radical
precepts of punk, and led a violent struggle against Margaret Thatcher. Strongly influenced by
the ideals of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Penny Rimbaud and G Sus created this collective to
implement the hippies precepts. For them, the main function of the punk movement was to
return music to the people. Crass fiercely denounced punks "sell-out" to the music industry
such as The Clash, promoted a message of peace and anarchy, and refused to be paid to play.
The members of Crass dressed soberly in black to show their rejection of fashionable punks.
Small Wonders produced their first album "Feeding the Five Thousand" in 1978. The title
"Asylum", which denounced the worship of Christ as "pornographic", created the indignation
and the strike of the Irish workers in a factory where the disc was pressed. The band re-
recorded the title and diffused it as a single, which led to a Scotland Yard raid in the farm in
Essex where members of Crass lived in community. On the musical side, the influence of
Crass had little importance, however its ideology had a major influence.207 The values of
anarchism and pacifism that they advocated was adopted by the community of punk all over
the world. In England, the anarcho-punk movement was minor, but very active. Crass
206
Toxic Graffity, issue 3, June/July 1979
207
Michka ASSAYAS, op.cit., « Crass ».
74
collective inspired the British anarcho-punk scene, and brought the emergence of bands such
as Poison Girls, Conflict, Flux of Pink Indians, The Subhumans, Amebix, Discharge,
Chumbawamba, or Antisect and The Varukers. Expressing anti-capitalism and making
independence and self-management their priority, the anarcho-punk scene refused the tutelage
of a major label, and gave birth to labels such as Spiderleg Records, Corpus Christi Records
or Bluurg Records. At the same time, a number of anarcho-punk fanzines appeared, such as
Toxic Graffitty, Cobalt Hate, Nihilistic Vices or Fack, which displayed the main
characteristics of this movement.
The ideals of this community were greatly influenced by those of the counter-cultures
of the 1960s, and especially those of the hippie culture. Some members of Crass were indeed
former hippies. This connection was illustrated first by their pacifist claims. The anarcho-
punk fanzines, like Crass, openly committed against nuclear weapons, and encouraged the
activities of the CND. The editor of the fanzine Fack tried to emphasize the importance of
participating in actions initiated by the CND, even those that seemed minor, as walks: “At
least you protested, at least you did not lie down and let it float over your head.I believe that
especially the small communal anti nuclear groups are working”.208 The anarcho-punk
fanzines were composed of long texts underlining the importance of fighting against nuclear
weapons, encouraging readers to act “whatever they tell us radioactive waste is dangerous,
they feed us such bullshit about it being “safe”. It isn’t.” 209
The slogan of the fanzine Fack
took the title of a song by Crass “Make War not Wars.” The fight against nuclear weapons
was the main challenge of the anarcho-punk movement in the early 1980s: the fanzines were
used as a platform to broadcast the arguments of this challenge, and to encourage readers to
join the fight. Fanzines also advocated anti-consumerism, anti-capitalism, anti-materialism,
and non-conformity claimed by the anarcho-punk bands: “if punk have any ethic it is to serves
only to destroy conventional ways of normal behaving and living […] We hate money
grabbing life of riches/we are vomiting into consumer society.” 210
Anarchist fanzines were
quite austere in their design. The texts were long and dense, and paid little attention to the
ergonomics of reading. The peace symbol and the A in a circle of the anarchist movement
were widely used, illustrating the rejection of institutions. In a collage of the fifth issue of the
fanzine Fack, photos and illustrations of scenes of war are intertwined, and inscriptions call
208
Fack, issue 5, p.14.
209
210
Toxic Graffitty, issue 6, 1980, p.28.
75
on citizens: “you die for the government, not for you country.”211 The word WAR is written
on Margaret Thatcher’s forehead, while the word DEAD is written on the helmet of a young
soldier. The inscriptions “WAR GAMES”, “THEIR WAR - YOUR LIVES”, “THEY LIVE -
YOU DIE” and “war at your convenience government” denounce the unconsciousness of the
government regarding the death of its citizens. The artist was also concerned about the threat
of nuclear war: “Hiroshima ... Nagasaki ... Earth: 1981?”. Through the poem "GOD IS A
MORON?" in the fanzine Toxic Graffity, the function of the Church and its hierarchy are
criticized.212 In the fanzine Fack, religion is clearly associated with bloodshed and carnage of
war. Numerous articles denounce the ambient racism and hypocrisy of the police. While
bathed in violent and apocalyptic graphics, anarchist fanzines message was progressive and
pacifist. A collage of the fanzine Fack brings a pro-abortion message and a message in favour
of women's rights, in addition to anti-nuclear and anti-war messages.
211
212
Toxic Graffitty, issue 6, 1980.
76
CHAPTER 3- THE INDEPENDENT NETWORK OF MUSIC
PRODUCTION IN THE EARLY 1980S
In the early 1980’s, music industry took on an international dimension. Mergers and
acquisitions between majors took place in the 1970’s: 5 clusters dominated the world market:
CBS, EMI, RCA, Polygram and Warner Communication. This growing majors monopoly
compromised independent labels lunched by the punk movement, unable to earn form the
market shares able to compete on the majors. In addition, in light of evolution of the music at
the beginnings of 1980’s, independent labels were now in competition against the majors for
the same musicians. For instance, Mute Records produced music bands entering in the Hit
Parade as Depeche Mode and Erasure, while similarly Joy Division and New Order were
Factory Records products.
3.1 Survival of the independent firms until the end of the decade
Rough Trade struggled to adapt to this evolution by modifying the treatment and the
share of these financial commitments to the artists.
Indeed, while some Rough Trade members wanted to maintain a roughly treatment
between artists, others were convinced that in order to survive the recession of the 1980’s, it
was necessary to separate the artists in terms of promotional work, and invest in bands most
likely to produce big hits, while supporting other bands, but with a smaller advertising. The
majors similarly used this so-called “Star System”. Geoff Travis justified this approach
retrospectively by commenting: “It needs one group to fund a serious-sized label, it needs two
or three to really make it work. One can give you the cash-flow to do an awful lot. If you don't
have a group? that takes off, it's very, very tough to compete.”213 This change was also
considered necessary because the post-punk musical evolutions had an impact on the
recording of Rough Trade practices. At the beginning of Rough Trade, the DIY and
spontaneous approach allowed releasing a punk album cheaply, and investments were valued
using the likely success of a project. The evolution from post-punk to pop and to more
sophisticated and neat sound has gradually changed these considerations. For example, the
213
David HESMONDHALGH, ob.cit, p.263.
77
production of the single by Scritti Politti in 1981 required an investment of £ 600,000 from
Rough Trade. The album reached number 12 in the UK album charts and sold well, but did
not reach the hopes for sales by Rough Trade. And while Rough Trade and independent labels
from the punk integrated operational resources and aesthetic forms of the music industry, the
competition between independents and majors intensified. Scritti Politti was debauched from
Rough Trade by Virgin in 1982. Probably as a result, Rough Trade advanced funds to Smith
to produce their album in 1983, and illustrated the evolution towards the Star System. Aztec
Camera, one of the greatest hopes of Rough Trade, Moved to Warner / WEA in 1984. Further
developments included also changes in the working place. Despite the increased competition,
Rough Trade was maintained and developed until the early 1990s. The Smiths found success
quickly: their first album in 1984 reached the second place in the Top Album, Meat is murder
(1986) was number one, and finally The Queen is Dead (1986) number two. Until 1987, their
sales only enabled Rough Trade to finance the production of its other artists, and to prosper,
to be at the top of his success in 1988. According to David Hesmondhalgh, the commercial
success of Rough Trade was a sign that a network of alternative production capitalist model
could work.214 Sign of the expansion of the company, the premises of the store in West
London became overloaded. The company began to rent a warehouse in Collier Street, in
North London in 1983 and moved in 1984. But as the most influential fanzines, Rough Trade
had to face the paradox of meeting the commercial success for a company claiming to protest
and to be marginal. The band Au Pairs. did not want to be integrated into the aesthetics of
Rough Trade, which was now considered “trendy”: “I do think that people listen to bands on
Rough Trade, just because they are on Rough Trade. I think there is now a Rough Trade band
and a Rough Trade sound, and that’s why we want to release the single on our own label.” 215
In 1984, Geoff Travis of Rough Trade and Mike Cherry Red Records Always created a label
in partnership with Warners called Blanco Y Negro, based in offices. Travis continued to
work at Rough Trade, but to David Hesmondhalgh, this partnership was a sign of the blurring
of the will or of the capacity for the punk to transform the music industry from outside.216
Nevertheless, the independent labels that had emerged with the punk and post-punk
remained in Britain in the 1980s. With their own distribution company, such as Vital,
Southern (SDR), and Pinnacle, and especially thanks to the significant impact of The Cartel
network set up by Rough Trade, independent labels could maintain the alternative music
214
Ibid.
215
Chainsaw, issue 10, p.11.
216
David HESMONDHALGH, Op.cit. p.265.
78
market they developed. Structures such as Mute, Factory and Some Bizarre, Creations,
Beatroute or Silverstone were able to develop their democratic and libertarian ethic that
distinguished them from majors. Noting the rise of independent firms, the Business Record
magazine published in January 1980 the first hit-parade of independent music. Criteria were
industrial and took into account disks that were not distributed by a company owned by a
major. Distribution determined independence. These rankings displayed some consistent traits
that led band from independent labels to form a genre with its own characteristics. Most of
these groups promoted simplicity and austerity, they were technophobes and preferred electric
guitar sounds than electronic sounds. As Simon Reynolds wrote, these groups “focused on
short songs, low-fidelity, minimalism, purism and guitars, guitars, guitars.”217 Among the
albums most present in the hit-parades were: Unknow Pleasure (1979) by Joy Division, Smell
of Female (1983) Cramps, Crass Stations of the Crass, and In the Flat Field Bauhaus. The
Smiths, Depeche Mode, New Order also had several albums in this hit-parade.
At the end of the decade, the boundaries between global market

and alternative market were blurred: independent companies were acquired or created by the
majors, some artists produced by independent experienced great success in the hit-parades,
and some ended up signing with majors (like the Smiths), although their action was not
presented as immoral, indicating that the importance of the independence of values instilled
by some punks tended to decrease.
3.2 The impact of the advances made in technology on the DIY productions
Furthermore, the development of digitization in the 1980s revolutionized the music

production and the music industry.
217
Simon REYNOLDS quoted by Christophe PIRENNE, ob.cit., p.437.
79
The conversion of a sound signal into a sequence of numbers leading to its
representation on compute started to be applied to the field of music, and became essential in
the early 1980s. Digitalization had an impact on sound generators: the integration of
synthesizers, samplers and drum machines to new music trends. Besides the proliferation of
electronic instruments, the extension of the offer of cheap instruments also changed the rock.
For example, the Casio brand appeared in the music field, and sold its first keyboard in 1980,
the cheapest on the market, which was sold more than fifteen million at the end of the decade.
The CZ-101, a four-voice synthesiser launched in 1984, coasted less than $500, ten times less
than the first polyphonic synthesizers launched a few years earlier.218 Digitalization also
changed technical records with the introduction of CD and digital tapes. Digitalization
questioned the way of conceiving music, which had the effect of extending the concept of
ownership of music. The sounds were now the subject of protection, digitalization extending
the possibilities of spiriting away, by sampling-a sound could now be extracted from a song
and used for another-, and piracy since copying was facilitated. Digitalization also modified
the composition process: the roles of composers and sound engineers faded, as well as
consumer and composers. It also changed the way of working as it no longer required the
presence of musicians. Everyone could create music, and then assigned a sound engineer who
was responsible for assembly creation.219 It is therefore assumed that this evolution, and its
consequences in the music production process, could facilitate DIY productions.
Besides, digitalization also caused the introduction of CD and digital tapes. The CD
was officially launched on 1 March 1983, and was introduced simultaneously by Sony and
Philips.220For the record companies, the CD could offset the erosion of sales experienced by
the music sector in the early 1980s. The CD was more durable than vinyl which deteriorated
and eventually became unlistenable. This format promoted the production of "old" music and
therefore the accumulation of music culture, like a library, being less connected to the idea of
releasing something new. 221 It was really the development of the digital tape that promoted
self-production and DIY productions initiated by post-punk. The musicians had now the
opportunity to produce their recordings on tapes. Better Tapes shop, located in Notting Hill,
encouraged groups to selfproduce their music at a lower cost: "Why bother making records
when you can release your own cassette. Make a few, when they sell come back for more,
218
Christophe PIRENNE, Op.cit, p. 435.
219
Ibid.
220
Yasmine CARLET,Op.cit, p.30.
221
François Ribac « Du rock à la techno », Mouvements 5/2005 (no 42), p. 70-81.
URL : www.cairn.info/revue-mouvements-2005-5-page-70.htm.
80
quick and easy. Xerox your labels and inserts…” "222 The production of a tape could cost
from 70p to £ 1.10 for a record 30 to 90 minutes. Better Badges also proposed to distribute the
recordings by correspondence, and promoted its products through the intermediary of
fanzines. Advertisements for Better Badges multiplied in fanzines in the early 1980s: the
independent market remained until the 1990s.
So if punk rock was integrated into the mainstream culture from 1978, the extension of
his belief in the dynamics of DIY, its values of action and participation, allowed its actors to
maintain an alternative culture, focusing particularly on music production accessible to all and
at lower prices. The technological revolution induced by digitalization in the early 1980s once
again encouraged musicians and fans to maintain this DIY ideology by renewing and
facilitating selfproduction. The editor Jamming was not discouraged by the slowdown in the
alternative music scene in London, and saw the DIY productions as the sign that amateurs
kept the controle of a part of the culture they created: “I DON’T BELIEVE THAT
‘ROCK’N’ROLL IS DEAD. Alright, so it’s going to have to adapt, and some people (eg big
labels) are going to have to rethink or die […] rock’n’roll is the celebration of youth […]
there’s no other means of communication so effective, so enjoyable, so immediate and so
provocative […] The answer? Not so easy. […] The actual club scene is totally dead, and yet
so many people are being creative-just look at the number of DIY tapes and records. Again,
I’m not saying whether it’s good or bad, but at least the music is in the artist’s hands.”223
222
223
Jamming, issue 9, late 1979, p.17.
81
CONCLUSION
82
Bringing together the concepts of participation, accessibility, spontaneity and constant
quest for innovation, the DIY ethics perfectly summarizes the dynamics of the punk
movement that led young people to create their own culture.
It is primarily around these notions that the movement exploded in 1976 in London.
Reacting against the grandiloquence of commercial rock, punk promoted a return to a more
stripped and humble rock. The simplicity of this new musical genre made it accessible to all.
The first punk bands in London, such as the Sex Pistols or the Buzzcocks had initially no gift
for music. Yet, they showed that anyone could go on stage and participate in the emergence of
a new music trend. Many young people followed their path and started their own band. This
accessibility and spontaneity strongly encouraged young people to participate and get
involved in this innovative and rebellious musical movement. The punk youth reintroduced
political and social questions in music, and evoked the difficulties they were facing in the
context of crisis that was the UK in the 1960s. A whole alternative and participative social
movement gathered around this music made « by kids and for kids ». The punk scene in
London first organized itself around pubs, small venues and independent stores. Early on, it
presented its own network of alternative media, with the creation of the first fanzines in the
summer of 1976. Zines were not invented by punk, but they grew around this movement.
They perfectly embodied the dynamic effect and ethics of the punk movement.
Anyone could then create this kind of amateur, spontaneous and participatory
publications. By praising amateurism and action, the DIY ethic particularly resonated with
young people, who were then operating in a “declining” Great Britain. While the future
appeared completely dull to them, DIY showed them that anyone could produce something
and succeed on their own. Its marketing cost it its counter-cultural dimension; by setting and
trivializing its most visible characteristics, the media did them codes in which the punk froze.
Thus, the assimilation of punk into the mainstream and commercial success inevitably marked
its decline. The movement was considered dead in 1978. However we could not measure the
impact and therefore the meaning of the movement, if we stopped there. It is by observing its
extensions in a variety of new musical trends that we can understand its impact on music. Its
actors, both fans and musicians, resumed the principles of renewal and participation that had
started to maintain its legacy. Bands resumed the musical characteristics of punk rock to apply
them to other musical styles early as 1977, and thus contributed to the dynamism of the post
83
punk scene. Post punk applied DIY ethic to music production, and thus marked the emergence
of a multitude of self-produced records and independent labels. Fanzines perfectly found their
place in this alternative music market’s emergence. They covered all the alternative music
scene, mediated between the various players, and continued to glorify the renewal,
amateurism and everyone’s participation. With the coming to power of Margaret Thatcher,
fanzines took like music the role of a forum for political protest. The most obvious illustration
of this new feature is the emergence of “anarcho-punk” fanzines. But the alternative music
scene did not constitute a homogeneous and united movement. Diversity and divisions of the
punk movement were beginning to visibly appear during his break in 1978 ; in the early
1980s, the only cohesion found in the legacy of the movement lies perhaps in the alternative
market that punk has generated around independent labels, small recording studios, different
shops and fanzines. Musically, the different trends that had emerged from the punk then
constituted distinct genres. New zines were created but they tended to specialize in a musical
trend, specific themes or ideologies.
Thus we measure through the study of punk fanzines the role and impact of DIY ethic
in punk movement and in its legacy: DIY brought a dynamic to the creation and maintenance
of an alternative and participatory music scene, where the boundaries between professionals
and amateurs fade. This celebration of the amateur, of the everyperson, has been the dynamics
of a significant cultural production.
84
ANNEXES
85
ANNEXE 1
Sniffin'Glue, issue 1, July 1976, front page.
86
ANNEXE 2
Sniffin'Glue, issue 1, July 1976, page 3.
87
ANNEXE 3
Sideburns, issue 1, January 1977, front page
88
ANNEXE4
Chainsaw, issue 5, April 1978, front page
89
ANNEXE 5
Jamming, issue 9, 1979, front page.
90
ANNEXE 6
Ripped & Torn, issue 18, 1979, front page.
91
ANNEXE 7
All The Poets, issue 2, 1980, front page
92
ANNEXE 8
Toxic Graffitty, issue 3, June/July 1979, front page.
93
ANNEXE 9
Fack, issue 5, 1980, page11.
94
BIBLIOGRAPHY
95
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DUNCOMBE Stephen, Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative
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London Punk Fanzines 1976 1984 The Celeb

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Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)

Mémoire de Master 1 Histoire-Anglais

“London Punk Fanzines 1976-1984: The Celebration of the Every Person”

Under the direction of Arnaud Page and François-Joseph Ruggiu

Je tiens également à remercier Emily Parsons, archiviste de la collection Jon Savage de

EMERGENCE OF A DIY CULTURE: 1976-1977

Stephen Duncombes defined fanzines as « noncommercial, nonprofessional, small-

2.2 Fanzines and mainstream press

3.1 Assimilation in the mainstream: the punk sub-culture decline

First presented as a disturbing and dangerous movement by the media, punk

3.2 The beginnings of new-wave / post-punk within the punk scene

After the commercialization of punk in 1977, the question of independence became

1.1 The DIY ethic applied to music production

The post-punk movement distinguished by the emergence of a multitude of

The idea to belong to an alternative culture, to contribute completely to its formation,

2.2 Extensions of punk in the diversity of post-punk movement

(Vol 8, No. 3), May-June 1978, p.58.

3.2 The punk scene as an anti-sexist and homo-friendly platform

1.1 The descendances of post-punk in the early 1980s

1.2 Renewal et preservation of fanzines

2.1. Music against the early years of the Thatcher government

At the end of the decade, the boundaries between global market

Furthermore, the development of digitization in the 1980s revolutionized the music

Sniffin'Glue, issue 1, July 1976, front page.

Sniffin'Glue, issue 1, July 1976, page 3.

Sideburns, issue 1, January 1977, front page

Chainsaw, issue 5, April 1978, front page

Jamming, issue 9, 1979, front page.

Ripped & Torn, issue 18, 1979, front page.

All The Poets, issue 2, 1980, front page

Toxic Graffitty, issue 3, June/July 1979, front page.

Fack, issue 5, 1980, page11.

ATTON Chris, Alternative Media, London: SAGE, 2002.

BENSIMON Fabrice, “Chapitre 24-La Grande-Bretagne contemporaine, 1945-1979. ”, pp.

OSGERBY Bill, Youth in Britain Since 1945, Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.

PIRENNE Christophe, Une histoire musicale du rock, Paris : Fayard, 2011.

HEIN Fabien, “Le DIY comme dynamique contre-culturelle? L’exemple de la scène

HEIN Fabien, Do it yourself !: Autodétermination et culture punk, Congé-sur-Orne : Ed.Le Passager

HESMONDHALGH David, “Post-Punk's Attempt to Democratise the Music Industry: The

MOORE Ryan, “Postmodernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and

RIBAC François, « Du rock à la techno », Mouvements 5/2005 (no 42), p. 70-81.

48 Thrills, issue 1, 1977

48 Thrills, issue 2, 1977

All The Poets, issue 2, 1980

Chainsaw, issue 1, 1977

In The City, issue 4, 1977

LiveWire, issue 17, 1978

London’s Outrage, issue 1, 1977

London’s Outrage, issue 2, 1977

Panache, issue 4, 1977

Ripped & Torn, issue 1, November 1976

Ripped &Torn, issue 10, February 1978

Ripped & Torn, issue 17March 1979

Skum, issue 7, 1978

Sniffin’ Glue, issue 1, July 1976

Sniffin’ Glue, issue 2, August 1976

Sniffin’ Glue, issue 5, November 1976

Toxic Graffitti, issue 3, June/July 1979

Toxic Grafitty, issue 4, September/October 1979

White Stuff, issue 4, July 1977

White Stuff, issue 5, September 1977

The New Musical Express, 22 January 1977

The New Musical Express, 7 May 1977