Out of the ashes of Punk came the New Romantics, rising like a painted phoenix over London’s club scene. From clubs like Billy’s and Blitz, where Steve Strange and Rusty Egan played Bowie, the Velvets and T.Rex, and Boy George was the coat-check guy, came the New Romantics. Clubbers known as the Blitz Kids, who were made-up and beautiful, and knew imagination was more important than money when it came to having fun. 

The Blitz Kids were Steve Strange (Visage), Rusty Egan (The Rich Kids), Boy George (Culture Club), Tony Hadley, Martin Kemp, Gary Kemp, John Keeble, Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet), Tony James, James Degville (Sigue Sigue Sputnik), Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama), Marilyn, Princess Julia, Isabella Blow, Stephen Jones and Michael Clarke, and together they were the generation of New Romantics.

Last year, in the Guardian, Priya Elan talked to some of the “movers and shakers behind the scene that spawned the New Romantics.”

STEVE STRANGE, BLITZ CLUB HOST, VISAGE FRONTMAN: By 1977 I’d gotten very bored by punk. It’d become very violent. The skinheads and the National Front had moved in.

RUSTY EGAN, BLITZ DJ, VISAGE MEMBER: The punk venues got invaded by football hooligans wearing Le Coq Sportif clothes. They’d call us “poofs” because we weren’t dressed in a normal way. Hence why we formed the club. It was for those ex-punks who liked Lou Reed, Bowie and Iggy.

SS: It was about being creative, we wanted to start something that didn’t have anything to do with punk.

RE: It was a horrible time of recession. Covent Garden was isolated and badly lit. But then you’d walk into the club and it was like “Ta-da!” Everyone was drinking and taking poppers. The atmosphere was like Studio 54.

SIOBHAN FAHEY, BLITZ CLUBBER AND BANANARAMA MEMBER: We’d spend the whole week preparing our outfits for the club. We’d go and buy fabrics, customise our leather jackets, make cummerbunds, find old military things and throw them together in a mix of glam, military and strangeness. It was all DIY because we didn’t really have any money to properly eat. We lived off coffee and cigarettes, really.

RE: The song that became the anthem of the club was Heroes by Bowie. “Just for one day” you could dress up and be more than what Britain had to offer you.

 
Previously on DM

‘The Chemical Generation’: Boy George’s documentary on British Rave Culture

 
Part 2 of Boy George’s Top 10 plus more memories from the Blitz Kids, after the jump…
 

 
Somebody’s finally liberated Reggae Britannia, BBC4’s excellent—though by no means not exhaustive—documentary on the origins, growth and influence of British reggae from the ‘60s to the present. Reggae Britannia takes you from the scene’s ska beginnings in the hands of the children of the country’s first post-war wave of Carribean immigrants (known as the Windrush generation), through to the emergence of Bob Marley, the first Brixton riots, the UK sound system phenomenon, the Two-Tone era, reggae’s merging with punk and appropriation by pop, and more. Reggae Britannia is definitely worth a look.

Here’s the trailer…click on any of the title links or graphic above to check the full thing. And please, watch instead of embed so we can hold off our friends at the Beeb from bringing it down for at least a short while.
 

 
Here’s an excellent performance-documentary of The Kinks in concert at the Rainbow Theater in London, 1972. It was shot around the time of their classic album Muswell Hillbillies, and the performance footage was originally shown as part of the BBC’s In Concert series.

What makes this program especially wonderful is the way highlights form the concert have been inter-cut with documentary footage with interviews from the band, vox pops, celebrity fan / film and TV producer, the late Ned Sherrin, together with clips from The Virgin Soldiers, and Ray Davies wandering around the disappearing London haunts of his childhood. Tracks include:

“Till the End of the Day”
“Waterloo Sunset”
“Top of the Pops”
“The Money-go-Round”
“Sunny Afternoon”
“She’s Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina”
“Alcohol”
“Acute Schizophrenia Paranoid Blues”
“You Really Got Me”
 

 
Previously on DM

The Kinks Live in Paris, 1965

Stations Enroute to Ray Davies’ Film Masterpiece ‘Return to Waterloo’

 
And so it begins… The new Radiohead album has been leaked released a day early along with a video for the song Lotus Flower. I’m no hater, I love ‘em. Let’s all watch and listen together shall we?
 
The killer first track, Bloom:

 
Depending on how much you loved or hated Richard’s post about Odd Future live on Jimmy Kimmel, oops I mean Jimmy Fallon, you might be interested to know that the debut album by Tyler The Creator (kingpin of that crew) is available as a free download from the Odd Future blog**. Released at the very tail end of 2009 (presumably to foil end of year lists) rumor has it that Bastard has had over a million downloads at this point. This doesn’t seem so far fetched. It might explain why the hype is so strong for Tyler, and how Odd Future got on Jimmy Fallon in the first place. Tyler’s new single “Yonkers” (not bad but not his best work) is also gaining a lot of hype, not least due to the video, and his follow up to Bastard is set to drop in April.
 

 
Hip-hop hasn’t been pushing sonic boundaries in the last few years, for me anyway, but it’s great to see it pushing other envelopes. The album brings to mind memories of late 90s Rawkus records, acts like Cannibal Ox and Anti-Pop Consortium/Beans and even vaguely the detuned synth-styles of the RZA, updated here for the Garageband/soft-synth age. I really like some of his music, but what I like most about Tyler is his methods of getting himself out there, creating a buzz without having to resort to the usual mainstream channels. Of course, if his music was terrible it would be different, but as it is, he might become the most high profile emerging artist yet to give away his product for free.

** Looks like the original upload has expired. You can still find Bastard for download very easily though, at links like this one. The Odd Future blog is worth having a look at, for other releases and general wackiness.

 
I would be lying if I wrote that I was a Jimmy Fallon fan (I’m not) but he does have some pretty good musical guests on from time to time. Last night two members of LA-based teenage horrorcore rap collective Odd Future (AKA Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All or OFWGKTA) provided one of the most wonderfully anarchic musical moments in recent TV memory. Totally insane, totally inspired. Those of you lamenting the lack of good old fashion rebellion in the younger generation’s music should appreciate this inspired performance.  I’ve watched this three times already, grinning from ear to ear.

Witness “Sandwiches” performed by Tyler, The Creator and Hodgy Beats. I just love how these kid are so obviously gleeful to be getting away with singing shit like this on national television. Hilarious. And Mos Def is most definitely having a good time, too. Kick out the jams, motherfuckers, kick out the jams.
 

 
Via Elvin Estella AKA DJ Nobody

 
Here’s a compilation of video clips made in the 1960s for French television. Most of these videos were new to me when I discovered them and the quality is impressive.

The Spencer Davis Group, The Equals, Vince Taylor, Tom Jones, Jacques Dutronc, Johnny Hallyday, Francoise Hardy and Marianne Faithfull.

If you love this stuff and must have more, it’s available on import DVD here. It ain’t cheap and you’ve got to have an all-region DVD player, but man what a goldmine.

 
Proshot high quality video of the Bad Brains playing in Florida on March 20, 1987. Shorter clips from this show have appeared on the Internet but nowhere near this quality. This is the Bad Brains’ performance in full and it looks and sounds great.

The Chevrolet banner hanging from the stage declares that “This is the heartbeat of America.”  I agree. But the college kids on spring break that make up the audience seem clueless.

Setlist:

1. Intro
2. I
3. House of Suffering
4. Daytripper/ She’s a Rainbow
5. She is Calling you
6. The Youth are getting Restless
7. I against I
8. At the Movies

total runtime 24:49:21
 

 
Here’s an incredibly generous and, truth be told, unconventional (hello Kate Bush !) look at the so-called genre known by some as Shoegaze. I personally can’t stand the term (yes I’m being sarcastic in my use of the word in the masthead here on DM) despite the fact that my early-mid 90’s band Medicine is often lumped in with it. But Mr. Ning Nong here has not only shown the excellent/highly questionable taste to lead off with Medicine but to also include many other possibly controversial, yet tasty choices. It would be churlish to complain when being presented with 3 bleedin’ hours of the stuff though, right ?
 

A fresh, sun-drenched Typecast from Boston mainstay Ning Nong, diving into the world of classic guitar rock and indie some of us are still so afraid of. Go on, dip your toe in – nobody’s watching I promise.
If you like this, check the Ning Nong Radio show on WZBC 90.3 Boston every Tuesday evening (10-12) for more epic musical voyages.

 
1. Medicine – One More (Creation)
2. Serena-Maneesh – Honeyjinx (4AD)
3. Slowdive – Morningrise (Creation)
4. Arab Strap – Last Orders (Chemikal Underground)
5. Yo La Tengo – Saturday (Matador)
6. Unrest – Imperial (Teen Beat)
7. Moose – Suzanne (Hut)
8. Altar Eagle – Spy Movie (Type)
9. His Name Is Alive – Lip (4AD)
10. Swirlies – Bell (Taang!)
11. Dinosaur Jr – In A Jar (sst)
12. Swervedriver – Duel (Creation)
13. The Verve – Drive You Home (Hut)
14. Blur – Resigned (Food)
15. Pale Saints – Kinky Love (4AD)
16. The House Of Love – Love In A Car (Creation)
17. Ride – Like A Daydream (Creation)
18. The Boo Radleys – Almost Nearly There (Creation)
19. Teenage Fanclub – Alcoholiday (Creation)
20. The Jesus & Mary Chain – Something I Can’t Have (Blanco Y Negro)
21. Interpol – Not Even Jail (Matador)
22. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Where Does Yer Go Now? (Mantra)
23. Mogwai – Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia (Chemikal Underground)
24. Sunset – Man’s Heart Complaint (Autobus)
25. Flying Saucer Attack – In The Light Of Time (Domino)
26. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career (4AD)
27. My Bloody Valentine – Sometimes (Creation)
28. Swallow – Peekaboo (4AD)
29. Kate Bush – Cloudbusting (emi)
30. Tindersticks – Drunk Tank (This Way Up)
31. Bark Psychosis – All Different Things (Cheree)
32. David Sylvian – Let The Happiness In (Virgin)
33. Cocteau Twins – Ella Megalast Burls Forever (4AD)
 

 
With thanks to Danny Gromfin !

 
Plan B was an independent British music magazine that ran from 2004 to 2009. It was founded by Editor-in-Chief Everett True, one-time editor of both the Melody Maker and Vox magazine, as an antithesis of the mainstream press like the New Musical Express. Duly, it covered a diverse range of left-leaning music, had in-depth features from great writers, excellent illustrations, and was printed on heavy grade paper. Even though it only lasted for 46 issues Plan B felt like the last great hurrah of the British printing press, when people cared about the content they were placing in your hands. The entire back catalog of the magazine is now available via torrent from the Plan B website, and is highly recommended for anyone who likes quality, opinionated music writing. Everett True now runs the website Collapse Board, which is also highly recommended, not just for its criticisms of current music media practices (and the free press), but for highly subjective pieces like “Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and the pernicious influence of Pitchfork”.