A bit of a curiosity here. It's, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Little Steven and Dave Grohl covering The Clash's London Calling at The Grammys in 2003. Thanks to FSLN over on the clashcityforum for finding this for me. http://www.sendspace.com/file/e6qakx It 'aint The Clash, but it rocks and is a fitting tribute to Joe.

WOT TO POST TODAY ?

Troops out, Votes in, or some R&R before they're off to Iran.
Banks ripping us off. Getting charged for not using credit cards or paying off outstanding balance. They want people to be in debit, cos they've spent the money on a futile war. Now they need to raise 75 million to replace the Cruise Missiles.
Celebrities selling us their Rehab pain, misery and depression.
A decaying democracy, a corpse called Britain, where the only freedom that isn't being taken away is the freedom to choose what to consume.
We're told that obesity is a problem, yet in every town there are hundreds of places to eat.

Confront and challenge ! Passive acceptance or Active participation ?

Change happens slowly, but will never happen by doing nothing and saying nothing. The more that happens the more we will be treated as nothing. Follow no leaders, use your own moral compass to find direction out of the darkness.

TV SMITH - Live @ The Klub Wiv No Name, Stevenage. 1/10/93

Once again the good folk of Stevenage had a chance to see another 'punk legend' play an intimate gig, and once again apathy set in and very few bothered to turn out. Never mind their loss, as I'm sure you'll agree if you download this. From The Adverts to his solo stuff TV SMITH has a way with words, as not only the songs but the banter in between songs on this recording shows. The set starts with his 'punk classic' Gary Gilmours Eyes then takes in subjects such as Britain's 'special' relationship with America, Government cover-ups, train drivers crashing while carrying Nuclear Waste, how everything is getting bigger, and the rich live longer, and the growing gap between the rich and poor. This was recorded 13 years ago and every word is still relevant. Protest never dies it just gets older and you find there's more to protest about, "and I wont pay for their mistakes."

TV SMITH - Live in 93: http://www.sendspace.com/file/2bcda0

'England's not a bad country...It's just a mean, cold, ugly, divided, tired, clapped-out, post-imperial, post-industrial slag-heap covered in polystyrene hamburger cartons.' - Margaret Drabble

FROM GUNS TO BUTTER. (The 3rd Way to a 4th Reich)

Be prepared, whatever the politicians are gonna do about the state of our nation, it will involve some sort of authoritarian measures. Certain groups in society will be picked on; single mums, the unemployed and absent fathers. From the congestion charge to smoking bans and the food we eat, individual civil liberties are being eroded and infringed upon anyway, so why should they stop there ?

WATCH THIS SPACE !

NOT SO GREAT BRITAIN ! A response to the recent UNICEF Report on Childrens well being across 21 Industrialised Nations.

Was originally gonna call this post Britain's Fucked and I Blame Esther Ranson, then go on about how organisations such as Child Line have helped give children too much power, then I thought that I don't advocate corporal punishment as a solution, and parents often abuse their power. The same can also be said of police and teachers. But I don't think that it's right to remove their power. It's all about a balance, and at this moment Britain is an unbalanced nation where parents are scared to say no, and kids grow up with no discipline. You could trace it back to the militant left in the 60's with their ideas of Liberation. I don't advocate that women should stay at home and be perfect housewives, but I do believe it is the mums role along with dad to bring up the children. Not a government funded day nursery's. I blame Margaret Thatcher for that; she encouraged the breakdown of the family, both parents working to pay the mortgage. No time for the kids, motivated by material wealth. Our children aren't deprived of PlayStations, Big Macs or Nike trainers, they are deprived of morals, values, faith and respect; the foundations of every society. Without these you are heading for the worst sort of anarchy. Young kids killing themselves with drugs, guns and underage sex. Is this what John Sinclair's White Panther Party and the MC5 meant when they wanted 'Dope, Guns and Fucking in the Streets'? I blame the media for filling kids heads with images of perfection, popstars, footballers and models. They have also demonised the young, more folk devils and moral panics. A culture of fear has been created, any young person with a hood is obviously up to no good. The ASBO generation, now that's no solution. Kids wear 'em as badges of honour and the authorities don't actually enforce them. Single mums are scapegoats, but children need positive male role models, there are so many things to proportion blame to, it's not just one thing, it's everything and in a society where our Prime Minister takes no responsibility for his actions it's no wonder no one else does and just blames someone or something else. The three main political parties and people in general need to do something and soon, because if we don't someone else will, after all the kids are our future. The 'Griffin Youth' anyone ?

No.3 out of 16 TELEVISION PERSONALITIES - Paradise Estate http://www.sendspace.com/file/zt2sro

EVERYTHING MUST GO (Remembering Richey)

Like a punch in the face to the loved up rave culture of the 90's. It's the MANIC STREET PREACHERS. They combined the beauty and glam of Hanoi Rocks and the political sus and slogans of The Clash. Loved and loathed in equal measure. They were at their best with Richey. Full on rough and raw, he was their pumping heart of darkness. Post Richey the bands dream of selling a million albums became a reality, but something was lost. Mondao Man and Lager Lad didn't want to talk about love, they just wanted to get drunk in the stadiums and arenas that the Manics went on to play, arms in the air with no idea of who Richey was, a design for life indeed. What happened to him

no one knows. I'd like to think he's out there somewhere watching and wondering about his role in one of the only bands since The Clash that really matter, because without him they'd have been nothing.

MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Live @ The Marquee Club 4/9/91 http://www.sendspace.com/file/vgyjd0

No posts for the next couple of days, suffering from 'Bloggers Burnout' normal service will be resumed at the weekend.

DRUGS ARE THE BIGGEST GET-OUT CLAUSE IN THE WORLD. DOPE ENHANCES YOUR CREATIVITY ? BOLLOCKS! IT DESTROYS YOUR BRAIN CELLS. WHEN WE CAME TO LONDON IT WAS 'HEY, CHILL OUT, SPLIFF UP MAN' BUT OUR CALLING-CARD WAS 'ANXIETY IS FREEDOM' - Nicky Wire (1996)

Cameron and Cannabis. If he comes clean and says "yes I did inhale" I can see him going far. Because what is lacking in our society is truth, honesty and integrity. Why should people hold those values when their leaders don't ?

We all hide behind masks and deny our pasts to some extent. It's wrong and unhealthy. Our individual history is what makes us the people we are today. We all have things in our pasts that we wish we could change, but we can't, that's life. Drugs and Alcohol can blot out and numb that pain, but they can't cure it. We need to move on and seek sanity in the present or sink deeper into our own madness.

No.2 out of 16: THE HOURS - Ali In The Jungle http://www.sendspace.com/file/o3n084

'IF YOU'VE GOT A JOB YOU CAN BE AN AGENT. WORK FOR REVOLUTION IN YOUR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT'

From Oxford to London via the free festival scene of the late 1970's and into Thatchers 1980's came ZOUNDS, a "weird band of punkified hippy squatters" Toured the U.K with Here and Now, The Mob and The Astronauts. Met Crass, released the Can't Cheat Karma 7", moved to Rough Trade and released the classic Curse Of Zounds album plus a string of great singles. The album is still listenable to now, it's got great tunes and great lyrics that mix the personal with the political. It remains timeless and would be in my After Armageddon top Ten. (not that there'd be any electric to listen to it with.) The demo that's posted here was recorded somewhere, sometime in 1979 before legendary drummer Josef Porta joined the band. I dunno where he got his energy from, playing with not just Zounds but The Mob and Null And Void. Once saw Zounds play a gig and there was Joseph drumming for Null and Void and Zounds on the same night. In Blairs Britain Zounds released a McLibel benefit single, and an ep recorded as the Iraq war unfolded on "wide screen television". The band still play occasionally, as "the thing is with punk rock, you're never too old, never too young...it doesn't matter if you're black or white, or disabled...if you've got something to say, fucking say it..."-Steve Lake(Zounds singer/guitarist)

ZOUNDS - 1979 Demo. 1)War 2)Daddy 3)I Just Wanna Be Loved 4) War(Dub)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7xhnkz

A BIT OF SNOW, AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY GRINDS TO A HALT FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. NATURE; A FORCE MORE POWERFULL THAN TERRORISM OR REVOLUTION.

'PATRIOTISM

IS A LIVELY

SENSE OF

COLLECTIVE

RESPONSIBILITY.

NATIONALISM

IS A SILLY COCK

CROWING

ON ITS OWN DUNGHILL'

- Richard Aldington

TOLD YER. PEOPLE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE SHIT THEY'RE LIVING WITH, AND ARE STARTING TO SNAP.

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY !

IS THIS GOOD,BAD, OR JUST PLAIN MAD ? I DUNNO, YOU TELL ME.

No.1 in a series of 16.

I'm gonna be tagging some songs on the end of a few posts that are non muisc related. Download, collect the lot and you've got youself a compilation called Groovy Times; a collection of some tunes I've been listening to recently. First up it's THE VIBRATORS with Cycle of Violence. http://www.sendspace.com/file/svkfur

IT'S A RIOT !

There is nothing I can possibly say about The Clash that hasn't been said before. Yes they were a mass of contradictions, but they politicised a whole generation from Boris Johnson to Stuart Pearce. That's why they were 'the only band that mattered' they spoke to everyone and they kicked up a mighty fine racket, from Punk to Funk they knew no boundaries. This recording is a gig they did in Hamburg in May 1980, which became known as 'The Riot in Hamburg' Joe got arrested afterwards for assaulting a 'fan' who had been shouting "kill him" at him and generally causing bovver. The trouble had started outside with the local anarcho-punks fighting the police, and continued inside with them storming the stage and shouting into the mic their disgust at The Clash selling out their punk ideals to the CBS Schweine. At one point Mick offers them their money back, ironic as they hadn't paid to get in anyway. Throughout the chaos the band battled on and finish triumphant.

THE CLASH - Hamburg, May 1980 http://www.sendspace.com/file/c2zh5k

WHAT'S GOING ON ?

Tony Blair is a crook, crime and disorder are rising, immigrants are invading, interest rates rising and the cost of the 2012 Olympics is growing. Watcha gonna do about it ? The weapon of revolution isn't always the molotov, it's the mouth, and now's the time to take up arms and mouth off.

In the work place it's up to us to confront and challenge the ignorance of our colleagues. Question their Racism, their consumerism, their values. Tell 'em their '4x4 off- roader' offers no protection, and it's their fault we're at war with Iraq. Tell 'em owning your own home makes you no better a person than the homeless bum on the street, and the only reason they have no home is because you insist on needing a castle for security. Let 'em know satisfaction isn't guaranteed, and every advert they see is bullshit. Tell 'em we don't need the culturefest of 2012, and it's gonna be built by the Polish anyway. Point out that every story in the papers is propaganda and we are all just puppets in a performance where our leaders nose is growing longer with every passing day. Finally tell 'em that the longer we keep silent the longer lying bastards like Blair will maintain their power and control over us all.

From the ashes of left wing Marxist punks Crisis rose Death In June. Accusations of the band being Fascists soon began to surface, (strange as if Hitler hated any one more than the Jews it was the Communists.) It all stemmed from an article in a 1984 issue of Private Eye by James Nice, who used to write to the band a lot he'd been given information by the band, and constructed an article taking lyrics out of context and using misconstrued information. Death In June defended themselves "The new Judas worth £35. If people want to think that we are Nazis there is nothing in the world that will make them change their minds. Tunnel vision and ignorance rules supreme. What a waste of time. Cheap lies and betrayal." The band did themselves no favours as a review in NME of a gig they did at the 100 Club pointed out "The worrying thing is onstage they are frighteningly real, daggers hanging from hips, SS deathheads on shirts, far too glamorous" I can testify to that as I was there, and they were powerful not just in image but in their music as well, which was an atmospheric collage of, dark pounding rhythms with a brooding intensity in the lyrics of doom, decay and death in the world....'We paid in blood for a free Europe' So there you have it. Nazis or not ? make up yer own minds. Originally released in 1983 The Guilty Have No Pride may or may not hold the answer. But while you listen to this lost classic just remember; it can happen again if we ignore the lessons of history, or if we fail to act like the NATO peace keepers in Bosnia. The power is with the media and their propaganda, in times of social crisis voters turn to the right for answers. You only have to take a look around and read the press to see that the fight against the fascists is far from finished and how fascism manifests itself in many forms.

DEATH IN JUNE - The Guilty Have No Pride http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QC9JJJPK

"Your life becomes as sickening as that mess you call your face.

That pig you call your girlfriend she's been in there for days.

Climbing up the walls shot some on my balls.

Wrap it up call it art

Now your record's in the charts" - Too Much Junkie Business (Johnny Thunders)

JOHNNY THUNDERS wiv PETER PERRETT - You Can't Put Your Arms around a Memory (Live at Max's Kansas City 1980)

http://www.mediafire.com/?6zo5y2d2zyj