Best Political Punk

[Blagsta]

Most bands on this list were anti-something or other, did benefit gigs for this and that, but what was their political agenda? I have no idea. They weren't genuinely political in a way that Crass were.

Gang of Four were fairly obviously Marxist.

 

[docus]

I'm a little surprised at the suggestion that Crass were musically uninteresting and preachy.

Penis Envy, their masterpiece and one of the best albums ever made, is fizzing with experimentation but not bogged down by it, and bristling with political anger but not dictatorial.

Systematic Death on that album is a breathtaking song; pure energizing punk-rock with scything guitars, framing a devastating critique of the meaninglessness of life in the 'system'. It's a pure melding of music and politics.

 

[Biffo]

Subhumans Conflict Crass Flux Poison Girls Zounds The Mob Dirt Antisect etc

 

[lights.out.london]

That's not the same thing, is it? Think of the most working class punk band you can and see how popular THEY were on your council estate.

Conflict. No contest.

 

[Brockway]

I'd say you were entirely wrong. Crass had no specific political message at all - indeed, went out of their way to avoid being aligned with any political group. They dealt with issues and causes, often in a very abstract way, without allying themselves, ever.

Isn't this pretty much what the Clash and the Dead Kennedys did?

Strikes me you have a very narrow view of what constitutes politics

As for the middle class thing - i'm not sensitive about it at all, it's just lazy and wrong. Not all of Crass were middle-class, so it's facile to use that as a stick to beat them with. Simple, really

Crass were actual anarchists. That's political. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they weren't anarchists after all but somehow acquired an anarchist following who waved around black flags and had anarchy signs on their jackets.

My point is exactly that regarding issues and causes. The Clash, Dead Kennedy's etc were, in my view, just being a bit rebellious - their "politics" were vague. What did they stand for? I'd go as far as to say that the "political" sloganeering and iconography of The Clash was just part of their packaging. Which is fair enough. Worked for me along with their good tunes.

If you want to take a broader view of what constitutes "political" then I'd argue that EVERY record ever made has some political connotation - eg were their records released on a major or independent label etc?

So who were the middle-class members of Crass and who were the working-class ones? And of the middle-class ones - what did they have to bitch about?

 

[Dubversion]

oh brockway, i can't be arsed. You contradict yourself enough without me doing it for you

 

[Brockway]

Gang of Four were fairly obviously Marxist.

Most art students were then... it was quite fashionable.

 

[Brockway]

oh brockway, i can't be arsed. You contradict yourself enough without me doing it for you

You give up to easy...

 

[Dubversion]

Sometimes it's just not worth the effort

 

[Brockway]

Sometimes it's just not worth the effort

Yer miserable git. Go cheer yourself up with some Amy Whinehouse.

 

[Dubversion]

great comeback - can't BEGIN to imagine why you're not out in front on the Funniest Urbanite thread

 

[Brockway]

great comeback - can't BEGIN to imagine why you're not out in front on the Funniest Urbanite thread

It was meant lightheartedly. Don't take things so personally. It's just a debate... which you lost.

 

[Dubversion]

It's just a debate... which you lost.

now THAT'S funny

 

[Herbsman.]

Yer miserable git. Go cheer yourself up with some Amy Whinehouse.

Please don't mention her, I'll be sick.

 

[muser]

Ten percent of the land
Is the hand that pulls the strings
Be the privileged few (to have to own to hold)
Power over the people yes yes
Power over people
Be the privileged few to have to own to hold

Money property assets before lives
Green gestures of a dying planet
An endless debate only too late
An appetite for glutony

The only way is up the only way is up
But when you are up you have to try and stay there
So you stamp and cheat on people
Champagne breakfats (rewards for the killing)
And a fast waist bulging
Indulging, in what you call good living

But most of all there is too much fat on your heart - pig
A lifestyle of cholesterol
Cross collateralized cholesterol
Saving what's left from profit margin
For what?
I'll tell you what for
For some irrelevant conscience easing charity - Why?
Just to justify! Just to justify!

Look at this utopia
A society based on solid foundations
Educate our children - educate them well
To feather the nest and fuck the rest
(Yes yes feather thenest and fuck the rest)
The waste expands
(As your waist expands)
While others stand at the back of the queue
I mean you

Still the same old security
For your creature comforts
Exchanging the hours of your life
For the cash you've already spent
Eating rubbish so you can pay the rent
Table wine once a week if you'relucky
In comparison

Privatise the people's lives
Be part of the company (or fade!)
The appliance of science to privatise their lives

Water is our business
Electricity is our business
Gas is our business
Lives are our business
Business is our business

Your money - my time
Your stinking industrial bathwater - my wine
Imbalance induces hate
How will you fill the gap
Between the endless buffet
And the scraps of food I have

I feel hate I feel hate
I feel hate I feel hate
(Don't be afraid to show your hate, hate!)

You just treat me like a commodity
You didn't know I couldn't even afford to feed my family
I just want to kill
I just want to take a gun
And put it to your head
And pull the trigger

Stop ignoring me fellows. The artist and title of this song, so I can download and enjoy

 

[Iam]

It's Age of Greed by Killing Joke.

 

[Blagsta]

Most art students were then... it was quite fashionable.

Pffffffft

 

[Dubversion]

Pffffffft

see what i mean?

it's pointless

 

[Biffo]

Stop ignoring me fellows. The artist and title of this song, so I can download and enjoy

Looks like 'Age of Greed' by Killing Joke to me.

ETA: Whoops...too late.

 

[lights.out.london]

If you want to take a broader view of what constitutes "political" then I'd argue that EVERY record ever made has some political connotation - eg were their records released on a major or independent label etc?

It was going so well until you wrote that. It smacks of the tired 80s stance that everything is a political act.

The trouble with calling something or someone an 'anarchist' is that anarchism is such a broad church (lol). Were Crass anarchists? Yes. Were they hippies latching on to a bandwagon? Probably. By any means necessary...

 

[Brockway]

Pffffffft

Don't get me wrong I love the Gang of Four, their music anyway. Were they Marxists? I can't really remember but I do remember them signing up to capitalist giants EMI as soon as they waved a fat cheque at them. Maybe they were going to subvert the industry from the inside. Or something.

 

[Dubversion]

thank god the punk movement's got you monitoring it, eh, brockway. Exposing ideological inconsistency, middle class interlopers and art students wherever they appear.

PHEW

 

[Iam]

Makes a nice change from the usual "that's not punk", "yes it is" arguments, though.

 

[Brockway]

thank god the punk movement's got you monitoring it, eh, brockway. Exposing ideological inconsistency, middle class interlopers and art students wherever they appear.

PHEW

I know. You're out for starters.

 

[Blagsta]

Don't get me wrong I love the Gang of Four, their music anyway. Were they Marxists? I can't really remember but I do remember them signing up to capitalist giants EMI as soon as they waved a fat cheque at them. Maybe they were going to subvert the industry from the inside. Or something.

You're being a knob. You claimed that political punk doesn't exist, I pointed out that Gang of Four were obviously Marxist (read their lyrics). You then chat more bollocks. Well done eh?

 

[northernhord]

Nine tenths of the law than sic
Is possesion
Life expressed in matter is a blasphemy
Success defined by aquisition stinks!
So busy trying to make a living i forgot about living
Yes i do
So busy trying to make a living i forget about life
The best things i found in life were my birthright
Green fields mean more to me than a brand new car
Will you swap your hi-fi for a clear blue sky?
Will you cash in all your shares for Gods clean air?
Is your answer yes,or no,to these painful truths?
Is your answer yes,or no,to these painful truths?
Do you grovel to your master?
Do you beg like a dog?
First things first,repeat to yourself
AHHH MONEY!, Money is not our GOD!
Mine!
The best things in life are free
Mine!
I own the beach and the blazing sunset
Mine!
I own the waves and the fresh air
Mine!
I drink the milk of the stars in this beautiful moment
Say to yourself
ALL THESE THINGS ARE MINE!
Repeat after me!
Money's not our God
Do you grovel to your master?
Do you beg like a dog?
First things first,repeat to yourself
AHHH MONEY!

 

[lights.out.london]

... and art students wherever they appear.

Those pesky kids...

 

[pocketscience]

Culture Shock/Subhumans/Citizen Fish.

 

[Brockway]

You're being a knob. You claimed that political punk doesn't exist, I pointed out that Gang of Four were obviously Marxist (read their lyrics). You then chat more bollocks. Well done eh?

Thanks.

I was hinting that their "politics" might not have been sincere; that they might have been in it for the money and the adulation just like everybody else (which is fair enough by me); that if they were claiming to be Marxists then signing to EMI makes them look somewhat hypocritical. Is that clear enough for you?

But I honestly can't remember if they said they were Marxists or not. You sound like a Gang of Four expert so I'll take your word for it that they did. Whatever - it's on the shelves in HMV innit, within spitting distance of Michael Bolton and Steps.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Gang of Four were fairly obviously Marxist.

deleted to protect the guilty.