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www.layoutpimper.com Director of a graphics artwork studio in Bristol, England. Recently celebrated my 50th birthday (see pics below).
Married for over 25 years to Carole, 2 children Daniel and Chloe. Had an autobiography published in 2001 entitled 'Bovver' - 'Social history with steel toe caps' as John King (author of Football Factory) called it. Nick Hornby's darker side' (Venue magazine). Currently being adapted for a stage play - should be out some time in September.
Deliriously happy and proud fan of Bristol Rovers F.C. (Yeah I know I've changed it - fickle bastard ain't I!). Love 'em, love 'em, c'mon you famous quarters!!!!
/pHere's a little insight into my thoughts of the music of the 70s - it was this that was my inspiration for my book, I wanted to tell how it really was way back then, not how the BBC and ITV would have you believe. No Abba, No Bee Gees, No Saturday Night Fever, welcome to the real 70s, it ain't no boogie wonderland ....
There were only three sorts of music worth listening to in the 70s: Reggae, Soul/Funk and Punk Rock. Apart from token offerings from Mott the Hoople, David Bowie and Lou Reed, the rest, as the Stiff label claimed '. . . ain't worth a fuck'.
It might come as a shock to some people but as the new decade that was to be come known as the one that fashion forgot dawned, the majority of teenagers the length and breadth of Britain were not all losing their heads and their hearts to Timothy Leary's trippin', strippin' hippies from across the Atlantic - there were only two styles of music that reigned supreme in the dancehalls: Tamla Motown and Reggae, and in reality there was only one cult that had grabbed the kids by the throats - the much maligned and greatly misunderstood skinheads.
Likewise, when the funkiest decade of all time came to an end, in Britain at any rate, the mirrorballs and the neon lights no longer shone and the downtown discos no longer throbbed to the sounds of the Bee Gees (if in fact, they ever did) but the pubs and clubs reverberated to a more earthy and streetwise sound, that of punk and 2-Tone.
Here's some of the best albums - and yes, you've guessed, not a sign of Abba or the fucking Bee Gees:
Skinhead Moonstomp Symparip 1970
Funky Kingston Toots & The Maytals 1971
What's going on Marvin Gaye 1971
The harder they come Various Artists 1972
Catch a Fire The Wailers 1973
Fire Ohio Players 1975
Mothership Connection Parliament 1975
Brass Construction Brass Construction 1975
The Clash The Clash 1975
Never mind the bollocks The Sex Pistols 1976
All Mod Cons The Jam 1977
The Only Ones The Only Ones 1977
London Calling The Clash 1979
Up-tempo reggae was the chosen soundtrack for Britain's skinhead cult - another of the recurring examples of white youth being comfortable with a more hectic, less sensual style of Jamaican rhythm. The term 'skinhead reggae' might be something of a misnomer, in that Britain's native rude boys didn't actually create any reggae, but there is no denying that skinheads were an important record-buying market, with a consuming power that was a good deal greater than that of the young inhabitants of the Kingston ghettos. Jamaican musicians and produced domiciled in Britain - particularly Robert Thompson (Dandy), Joe Manzano and the great Laurel Aitken - were the most adept at catering directly for their needs, but there was also an awareness of this audience in Kingston itself. The forward-looking Bunny Lee, for instance, named one of his record labels Agro Sound, and his sesson band The Aggrovators, after skinhead argot for 'trouble'.
It was thanks to the skinhead audience that reggae 45s made a concentrated impact in the British pop charts. Jamaican records had occasionally enjoyed crossover success in the UK before, however. Millie Small's 1964 version of Barbie Gaye's r'n'b hit, 'My Boy Lollipop', had been a favourite of London's sharply dressed mods, and subsequently an international pop hit. Three years went by before Prince Buster's 'Al Capone' and then the Skatalites with the quintessential ska record 'Guns of Navarone', which came out a few months before the biggest hit of all in this period - Desmond Dekker's '007 - Shanty Town', which eventually hit the No. 14 slot during the summer of 1967.
By the time the skinheads were firmly established as the cult for white, working-class kids as the new decade arrived, reggae itself was likewise firmly established as their chosen choice of music, the autumn and winter of 1969 saw top ten hits for Lee Perry's Upsetters with 'Return of Django' and the Harry J All Stars with 'Liquidator' - a record which was still in the charts in the first few months of the 70s and which went on to be come a firm favourite with the Bovver boys of the terraces up and down the country.
Another instrumental hit that registered with UK pop fans was Boris Gardiner's 'Elizabethan Reggae' (No. 14 in 1970), while Dave (Barker) and Ansell Collins combined the sort of organ sound already familiar to many white listeners with an early taste of Jamaican deejaying, and were spectacularly successful with first, 'Double Barrel' (No. 1 in 1970) and then the 'heavy, heavy monster sound' of its follow-up 'Monkey Spanner (No. 7 in 1971). Jimmy Cliff who went on to star in the movie 'The harder they come' had hits with 'Vietnam' and 'Wide World' (Nos. 46 & 8 respectively in 1970).
The Pioneers became a particular favourite with the young skinhead girls with their brand of pop reggae with first 'Long shot kick the bucket' which re-entered the charts in the early months of 1970, 'Let your yeah, be yeah' (No. 5 in 1971) and 'Give and Take' (No. 35 in 1972) - hardly classics admittedly, but nontheless important examples of reggae which was becoming increasingly accepted as 'mainstream' British pop music - which as it turns out was probably not such a good thing.
Other performers to have hits in the early 70s were Bob & Marcia with 'Young, Gifted and Black' (No. 5 in 1970) and 'Pied Piper' (No. 11 in 1971), the Melodians with 'Sweet Sensation' (No. 41 in 1970) and Nicky Thomas's 'Love of the common people' (No. 9 in July 1970). Not to mention a certain record by Derrick Morgan . . .
The decline in skinhead interest in reggae came as Rastafarianism became the dominant force in Jamaican music. As the 'heavy, heavy monster sound' gave way to what seemed like hippy attributes - long hair, dope, calls for 'peace and love' (total anathema to the aggressive skins) - the skinheads stopped buying, and the chart entries dried up.
As for the album 'Skinhead Moonstomp' by Symparip and its stablemates on the Trojan label 'Tighten Up' Vols 2 & 3 and 'Club Reggae', it became a 'must-have' part of their collection - with an image on the cover which every young, self-respecting skinhead gang tried to emulate, in looks, manner and demeanour, not to mention being the source of many an argument as to the validity of the participants - after that however, for skinheads at least it was downhill all the way...or was it?
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