Sunday morning then, thanks for dropping in to the blog. If you’re of similar vintage to me and grew up in the UK and most of Europe I presume you probably remember Sunday being the sleepiest day of the week. Now it’s a bit like a watered down version of a Saturday isn’t it? In the 1970′s in England the only places open were newsagents in the morning so shopping wasn’t an option, there wasn’t any football and generally it was a day to do little other than bring the paper to the pub for a in-depth read and probably end up with a roast dinner. It was almost seemingly designed for a recovery from a late Saturday night but even that was usually not that extremely late as the pubs closed at 11pm. Seems like a very different world that spawned punk and The Clash in 1976 but when you see old video footage of practically anything from that era (try this for example) the fashion, the hair and every aspect of life looks like the hangover from the 1960′s resulted in a soupy mess of stagnation.

When you add to that the fact that the economy was entering a downward cycle the breeding ground for something new and exciting was especially fertile, particularly for youth. Inner city life had long since lost the ‘swing’ of the 1960′s and with grim job prospects and it being harder to afford a place to live made cities like London, Manchester and Liverpool perfectly positioned to support a new movement for young kids. With that said though it’s not as if punk rock in the UK replaced pop music and that hundreds of thousands were buying the earliest singles by The Sex Pistols, The Clash or The Damned. It remained a fringe scene for the better part of 12 months until the media decided it posed a huge threat to the existing morals of society. The turning point was probably The Sex Pistols appearance on the Bill Grundy show on December 1st 1976 which resulted in the daily newspapers finding a new danger to rally against and it was punk rock. You have to remember that more than television or gossip and long before the internet nothing shaped public opinion in the 1970′s like the daily paper. It’s very reasonable to assume that prior to ‘The Filth and The Fury’ headlines that 90% of UK adults had never heard of punk rock as they cuddled up to their latest ELO or Wings album and suddenly their children had to be protected from something more sinister than they could comprehend. The truth was that small punk scenes only existed in a handful of cities around the UK at that time, if you lived in Exeter or Norwich, Stoke or Bradford no such scene had even formed. Early audiences at concerts by The Clash and others outside of London were more likely to be attended by aging rockers, the curious or the local drunks than someone who already owned the first few Ramones albums. The scene came later as did the inspiration, by the second half of 1977 and into 1978 every town in the country had a new band who realised that anyone could make a record and it all fell under the umbrella of punk. A lot of crap was recorded under the banner of punk but there were also dozens of excellent new bands that realised that if you could master 4 or 5 guitar chords and get a pub willing to put on a gig a local scene could begin. For me personally, a huge ratio of the bands that have meant so much over the years formed between the start ’77 and the end of ’78. Not every band would legitimately be considered punk in sound (any more so than London Calling was) but punk in terms of attitude and creativity for sure. The biggest and best legacy of the era is what changed compared to previous- new bands on small labels became the norm and not the exception. Record labels were set up in small offices and garages and with the help of people like John Peel and the fanzine culture bands could get heard with little or no financial backing.

I think it also ushered in the most exciting spell of music we’ve yet to see as punk merged into post punk and then what was to be become ‘indie’ 1979-1987 saw a fantastic variety of bands on labels that didn’t even previously exist and the catalyst for all of this was punk. Just for fun I looked at the best selling singles in England in August 1976 and it simply demonstrates just how much punk was needed and how close music was becoming (had become?) to being a non factor for all of us. Below is a look at the top 20 at that time:

As you can see there is hardly a ‘guitar band’ in that list and most of it wouldn’t look out of place in a collection of singles for someone aged over 25 (35?) even at that time. Who were the kids of 1976 supposed to be inspired by? Elton John was top of the charts and at age 29 had ended his run of albums that were vaguely monumental, Dr Hook were soft American pop by guys in their late 30′s. David Dundas was a one hit wonder from Oxford, Tavares were a bland R&B band in their late 30′s, Jimmy James was more insipid R&B from a chap pushing 40. Even the relative excitement of Glam Rock was all but dead with the art rock of Bryan Ferry being as near to ‘alternative’ as this chart offers even those he was 31 by then. The lack of a young guitar band in that list is almost painful when you think that a decade earlier the charts were dominated by The Beatles, The Animals, The Rolling Stones and The Who – each of whom were populated by young men at that time. By 1976 it was like the sixties had never even happened, the charts were as safe as they were in 1956. The door was wide open for something fresh to happen and the impact was genuine, a year later the 40 top selling singles in August 1977 included The Stranglers, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, Television and The Ramones – none of whom would have got a look in just 12 months earlier. Not quite sure what got me started on this today but it’s important to note that beyond The Clash you could suggest that the seeds planted in 1977 saved music and by 1978 and 1979 (I’ll write about those later) the difference was incredible.

Hello again everyone and thanks for spending a moment on the blog. I hope that everyone who wanted to nab a ticket for the Mick Jones Review (not really, see yesterday’s post) was successful in their quest, London is already sold out. They ought to add another night(s). I hope I’ll be able to cajole a few of you into compiling some notes about the tour, sending in set lists, photos or moments of madness. Perhaps we’ll start a sweepstakes for the Clash songs that he’ll add to the mix for the 6 night tour. It would be really special if he chooses a dozen or more to rotate and give hundreds of people a chance to hear different Clash songs performed ‘live’ by a member of the band for the first time ever in some people’s cases. I think it is class/common sense that if the song featured Joe on lead vocals he hands the vocal duties over to someone else. It would be extremely odd to hear Jonesy sing a Joe part. Has it ever happened before trivia lovers? Let me know.

In the fog of war this week I almost forgot that in London this Thursday night The Good, The Bad and The Queen played that special Greenpeace anniversary show. Paul Simonon of course reprised his place in the band along with Damon Albarn for what could be but hopefully isn’t a short lived return for the band. Did some of you make it along? Initial thoughts? Get in touch via the usual channels and I’ll dig out some reviews if I can find some.

Paul on Thursday Nov 10, Image courtesy Greenpeace UK

I’d give my eye teeth to see that band live, in such high regard do I hold the solitary album that they recorded. For the time being (I’ve got more stuff later don’t worry) I’ll have to share the video below that features the band performing this week a cover version of sorts as they borrow a song from Gorillaz – Melancholy Hill. What is interesting is that the seeds of that song were written during the making of TGTBaTQ album in the first place according to Damon’s introduction. Make sure you watch the entire video as a special guest appearance is made halfway through and results in a brilliant performance with Paul in particular pulling out some great shapes with the bass. Thanks to videohound Gil W for alerting me to the video earlier today *(yesterday by the time you read this). Alright then, that’s all I’ve time for at the moment with more to follow. Have a splendid weekend and do something worthwhile. Tim

‘Melancholy Hill’ – The Good, The Bad and The Queen (plus special guest – watch the entire video!)

Good Friday morning to you then. I slept like a homeless cat last night for some reason, literally waking up every few hours to (not literally) walk along the tops of walls and yowl at the moonlight. I don’t know how they manage it night after night, I’m exhausted this morning and in dire need of some coffee which is….just…..about….to….finish….brewing. Ah yes, that’s much better. So where were we? Did anyone see Rick Perry the other night with his inability to recall the third department of US government he is promising to shut down? It was like watching an unprepared student be called upon by a patient teacher and then exposed to his not having a bloody clue. It was a priceless moment if you want to see it but better still should mean that this charlatan of the worst order is now out of the running for the most unpleasant job on earth.

Not for the first time I chose a poor date to not getting around to blogging as some major and unexpected Clash news broke out of London. You’ll surely recall the recent appearance by Mick Jones as a guest of Pete Wylie in Liverpool for a night to support the Hillsborough Justice for the 96 campaign and a well-founded endorsement of boycotting The Sun newspaper. You can read more about the whys and wherefores on that post if you like. Based on everything I read, the videos I saw and those I spoke to that was an amazing evening. Not only did it capture the passion of Clash gigs as it was about accomplishing something (and a very hot topic in Liverpool to say the least) but it also saw Mick give a number of Clash songs a workout performing half a dozen songs some of which he hasn’t played live in decades. Lots of excellent footage is on YouTube if you search for Mick Jones and Liverpool. Well obviously Mick’s long standing friendship with Pete Wylie and the success of the Liverpool gig has borne fruit as a national tour has now been announced with Mick, Pete, The Farm and special guest next month with tickets going on sale today I believe (November 11).

You can read more about it in the NME but I’m sure tickets will sell out quickly. As I’ve alluded to more than once on the blog it seems Mick Jones just can’t get enough of playing live at the moment. If he was someone more attuned to having a publicist the media would be fawning over his activity in recent years as he has lent himself to numerous projects along with his own band Carbon Silicon, the reformed Big Audio Dynamite and a world tour with Gorillaz. Add to that the two incarnation of the Rock and Roll public library and we’re seeing Mick most certainly going through a renaissance and loving every minute of it. I’m sure many who will attend the December tour will be those who saw the other bands I’ve mentioned but I hope some of you who skipped it will be able to make one of these dates. A lot is being made of the fact that this is ‘the first time Mick has played Clash songs since ’82′ which not only is patently wrong but also demonstrates how much of the mainstream press and music press just haven’t been paying attention. I do think Mick is very sensitive about the Clash catalogue and doesn’t use it as something to dine out on – he has too much respect for those he works with and too much pride in his post Clash work. Thus it would seem that the cause of these gigs is probably the most important aspect to Mick, as a football supporter, as an old punk and as a good concerned person. Challenging a newspaper with a tatty reputation and the government inquiry that failed to properly answer the root cause of the Hillsborough disaster. In short a cause that needs to be supported.

I hope many of you will be able to get along to one of the concerts and the next three weeks should see Mick working with Pete to get some more Clash songs stage ready. While the tour it just six dates it does take in Cardiff and Glasgow along with London, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. Not too handy if you’re in the midlands unfortunately, tickets are available via this link – if you are going please send in reviews, photos or video – more on that in the weeks ahead.

Finally, thanks as ever for visiting the blog. If you’ve have trouble with the site lately I apologise, we are going to change hosting and increase bandwidth to ideally eliminate those isues. However this means added costs for the blog that I’ve always done without advertising. Therefore if you want to help offset some of the costs of the blog in some way there are some banners over on the right that link to Amazon. If you already shop on Amazon anyway for music, films or books please access their site via the blog. They send me a few pennies for every purchase you make if you ‘found’ them via the blog. No pressure but if you can that would be brilliant. Cheers. More later after I get back in that garage, the odds on a move to California are hopefully rising so I need to clean out my stuff amassed over the years.