We all buy into the dream / Rebellion becomes consumption / Designer dirt / Calvin Klein / Safe and Sanitised / Polished / Packaged / Paralysed / Faded jeans / Faded dreams / Clothing our hidden fears / Acceptance or rejection / Conformity or difference / A path / A cage / A prison grave / Slow death / Tortured souls / High rise density / A cold concrete reality / Wife / Mortgage / Sexy car / Rock bands / Football stars / Social order / Social control / Adverts make for brainwashed proles / Satisfaction guaranteed / Through the purchase of false needs / Irrational hopes / Irrational fears / Washed away with designer beers / Drugged and drunk / Passivied / So no one sees through the lies / We're sold a life from the shop shelf / A mass produced inner self //

TOO PISSED OFF TO POST TODAY.

What can I say about The Ramones.........1,2,3,4, Hey, Ho, Lets Go. Absolutely nothing that hasn't been said before. No Ramones, No Busted, sad but true. The Ramones British debut was on American Independence day. It was a culturally significant event, all the early 'punk players' were in attendance. No Clash or Pistols, they were in Sheffield that night, they had to wait a day latter to see 'em at Dingwalls. It was the first chance they had to see their 'new heroes', der brudders Ramone. It's fitting that 10 years previous at The Roundhouse in 1966 Pink Floyd had played a launch party for IT a new London Underground magazine and in 1967 it also hosted The Dialectics of Liberation conference, with speakers such as; Herbert Marcusse and Stokey Carmichael, they later got a standing ovation, then announced to the hippy radicals that the speech he had just delivered was one of Adolf Hitlers'. That's Black Power for you. Mick Farrens 'Pronto-Punks', The Social Deviants played at this event. So there you have it, all the ingredients of 'British Punk' The Ramones leading the New York Invasion, the hippy/prog element, and some radical leftist thinking. Despite the Stalinist revision of history, the truth comes out in New Labour retrolution culture and it turns out some of the 'punk players' had a fondness for all things prog, and attended events at The Roundhouse when their hair was longer and their trousers wider. Thank Fuck for The Ramones. "We can't play. If you wait until you can play, you'll be too old to get up there."-Johnny Ramone

THE RAMONES @ THE ROUNDHOUSE 1976 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JKSTFRJ6

A criminalised society. 3,000 New Labour laws since they came to power, and now the jails are full. Senile judges with no clue as to what constitutes a threat to society. Incarceration or rehabilitation policies. The heat is getting turned up every time another government fuck up is reported. The media are preparing the battleground; Immigration, Crime and money. People only take interest when the rates go up and someones getting something for nothing. Times are gonna get interesting between now and the next election. When the shit hits the fan, just remember that.............Things can only get better.

BLOG INFORMATION COMUNIQUE#1

Understand there may be problems downloading SCUM OF TOYTOWN. What you need to do is click link, to Yousendit, register if it asks you to, (it's free) then loggin and the link to the Scum 5 fingered discount ep should come up click on that, then it's business as usual. If the link has expired or it says it's unavailable. Then it means max no. of downloads (100) has been reached. If that's the case I'll upload it again in a couple of weeks. Leave a comment to let us know, then I may upload it to Megaupload.

As today is Australia day, I was gonna write a post about the treatment of Aborigines, fascist immigration policies, and how any country that holds a man who abused crocodiles on T.V as a national hero, must be pretty fucked up. Then I remembered about Transportation and where the convict settlers were shipped over from and thought fuck it, I just can't be bothered, because all nation states oppress minorities, control their borders and the 'cult of the celebrity' is a global industry, so why pick on Australia ? cos it makes a change from America. Two countries with a shared history of being settled by those who weren't wanted by the British establishment. What does that tell us ? That Britain really was great ? I don't think so, because there is no common wealth.

Move away..........There's nothing to see here.

SCUM OF TOYTOWN

Right then folks. Gonna have to do a bit of history here cos there's not been much written about SCUM OF TOYTOWN. They came from Stevenage, a new town where there is supposedly more culture in a yoghurt, I think this post proves that dum arsed local radio presenter wrong. During the 90's Scum released one tape; Fight Truth Decay, one 7" single; The Destruction of Both Houses of Parliament and one album; Strike. They built up a strong local following in Hertfordshire and were veterans of the stage at Finsbury Parks Sir George Robey. Gigged with Citizen Fish, 25th May, RDF, The Blaggers, Cowboy Killers, Snuff amongst others. Toured with Back To The Planet, whom they blew off stage each night by all accounts. Toured Germany and Poland, where they built up a loyal following. Their single got a rave review in the NME, would have been single of the week if they'd sent in a photo with it, John Peel also gave it a spin. Musically if you have to label and box 'em up, they'd have fallen into the anarcho/crusty/ska punk scene, politically they were both global and personal. There you have it, a brief thumbnail sketch of Scum Of Toytown. The first two tracks have been radically reworked by Tim Knowles, master mixer and sound geezer, who was often seen firing off samples at Scums live gigs. The original grooves have been rewound, deconstructed and reconstructed in an almost orchestral and symphonic way, taking them to a different level. Then you get the original versions and an added bonus of my all time fave Scum tune the fascist kicking Jackboot Crusade, as played by John Peel. Grab 'em soon as it's gonna be limited, cos the file sharing hosts for this post only keep 'em up for 7 days, and have a limited number of downloads. If you do miss out leave a comment and I'll re-post at a later date.

Scum Of Toytown - 5 Fingered Discount EP

1) Feedback (Off The Shelf Mix) 2) Different Drum (Alternative Drum Mix) 3) Feedback (orig) 4) Different Drum 5) Jackboot crusade. http://www.sendspace.com/file/z7ewkj NEW LINK OVER TO YER LEFT IN REQUESTS/RE-UPS SECTION!

Right then. Wots going on. Wots gonna be happening ? Pretty much of the same really, over the next few weeks and months I will continue with a bombardment of ranting, preaching and propaganda. Pictures and text, interspersed with some music. I'm gonna try and make the downloads a bit interesting, Two acoustic gigs one from Nikki Sudden the other from T.V Smith, an early Zounds demo, and The Mobs Ching tape, some live Clash, Ramones, Manic Street Preachers stuff and what ever else I can think of. If it's the music yer after keep popping back to see what might have popped up. If you do hit upon this blog, leave a comment, if you're a regular (there might be some of you as crazed as me who visit here on a regular basis) thanks, leave a comment. I read 'em and respond. Communication and Interaction leads to Reaction and Action.....KEEP ON, KEEPING ON IN THE FREE WORLD

Untitled #2

Working through boredom, working to survive / The sound of the cash tills, keeps everyone alive / There's no dignity in labour, just wages of sin / Working for the bosses, keeps their profits coming in / The value of surplus, all property is theft / If you took away the money, there would be nothing left / Competing in the market for every single thing / Where the only real hope is a National Lottery win / The union jack is flying, it makes us feel proud / But when yer backs against the wall, the futures underground / Don't wanna take part in your society, with all its pain and misery / Got no time for its systems and schemes / Because 'In our hearts we carry a new dream' ////

Sadham hangs, in a macabre show for all to see. Western values mean nothing anymore. Tyburn T.V. Celebrity Big Brutha.....Jade Goody; hang the foulmouthed, ignorant, racist scum, and those other two faceless non-entities. Shame on you others for sitting around doing and saying nothing. This is a mirror to national attitudes. This is the society that has been created by valuing the vacuous celebrity and their culture. It's about time these so called celebs got shown up for the trash that they really are. They are not deserving of the attention they receive or the ridiculous amounts of money they supposedly 'earn', for doing what ? Singing shit songs and going out with footballers. These are the c**t's of celebrity and they are gonna fuck our kids if we let 'em become their role models. It's all so vacuous, fake and phony, style over substance. I blame the Spice Girls, with their girl power take on women's liberation. Did Emmeline Pankhurst chain herself to the railings for this ? These people shape our world. Jade Goody, 25th most influential person, in a world where the only aspirations some kids have is to be famous, without having to do anything, other than be paid a small fortune for being players in the capitalist game with the media and the state, and the proles as passive observers. It is the excesses of Western celebrity culture that fuels the fires of terrorism along with Bush and Blair's continued involvement in Iraqi and Afghanistan.

HERE'S.....................................................JOHNNY.

No history from me about Thunders, if you wanna find out more check out Nina Antonias biography In Cold Blood, it tells you all you need to know about the man, the legend and the junkie. What you're gonna get instead are my memories of a gig I promoted 17 years ago. You can put yer arms around them if you like.

When Thunders rolled into town, he was suitably late and in a confused state as he wandered round the venue; the local youth club, Bowes Lyon House. It was a costly gig to promote (£600), paid for by the youth service. Other venues on the tour had refused to pay the full fee on account of Thunders being "so bad" Not really a shining example for young people to look up to, it's a good job the audience of around 60 was older, but a shame as the kids missed a night of emotional, wasted and strung out rock and roll, and also a real advert that showed how hard drugs really can screw you up. The gig started with fine sets from Dave Kusworth and Stevie Vayne. Time for Thunders, no surprises that he's in the dressing room suitably wasted. His manager assures me that it's OK and he's just "getting his head together" as he introduces me to Johnny, who's idea of getting his head together involves a pint of Irish Cream and Brandy, and around 5 joints in various stages of construction on the dressing room table, plus whatever else he'd consumed. He didn't look a well man, as I looked him in the eye and thought; will he make it to the stage. Well he did, it took ten people to steady him as he stumbled down the steep concrete stairs leading from the dressing room to the stage. There was a moment when I thought I could be the lucky or unlucky promoter, depending on your point of view, who had Johnny die on stage. Finally he stood in front of the mic strummed his guitar once and put it down, unable to play. "Play some fucking guitar" shouted a local Thunders wannabe. "Do ya want yer money back" was Thunders response. 45 minutes later the show was over and Johnny went off to the bed and breakfast he'd been booked into. A while later I took a call from them. They were rather concerned about the Thunders entourage, asked if he was alright, said he didn't look well. I went down to reassure the owner that everything would be fine, which it was, spoke to the proprietor the next day who remarked that everyone had been "polite and considerate."

The recording shows Thunders sensitive side, the haunting saxophone of Jamie Heath and basic guitar strums by Mick Vayne give Thunders a dark sleazy sound. So Alone never sounded so true on that night played to a sparsely filled hall of rock'n'roll voyeurs. Most left feeling sad at what they had witnessed; the slow death of a genius whose potential was never realised further than his faithful followers who loved him and still do....Dead or Alive!

Johnny Thunders @ The Klub Wiv No Name, Stevenage 10/5/90

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AIWJQBZK

SOUL POWER

This post is for a friend who was cremated today. One of gods talented, creative and inspirational creatures. I'm sorry to contradict the word of the lord Mr Vicar, but Shaun's 'time on earth' was not up. It was just beginning.

The Impressions - This Is My Country http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z1QMCKKO

Clothed for combat, hoodies and baseball caps. The nuisance yoof and ASBO generation. Are they a nuisance ? u decide. Bored and directionless, 14 year old footsoldiers of the revolution. Fueled on pills, weed, lager and techno beats. 'Anger is a energy' and challenged in the right direction can lead to some sort of constructive destruction. What's wrong with the kids today is they've had no punk rock, nothing to give 'em an alternative, because there is no alternative. The underground is now overground, music, fashion, the whole lot, packaged as rebellion on the rails at Top Shop, and in the racks at Virgin. The proof is in the pudding....Richard'fucking'Branson. No alternative ideology just total capitalism and celebrity culture. ....................................(To be continued.)

FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM,

THIS SOCIETY IS ROTTEN.

FROM THE INSIDE TO THE OUT,

DOES IT MAKE YOU WANNA SHOUT.

FROM THE START TO THE FINNISH,

THE RACE MAKES US SELFISH.

FROM BIRTH TO THE GRAVE,

ARE YOU GONNA BE A SLAVE ?

IT'S ALL FUNDAMENTAL

Rogue States V Righteous States. 21st Century warfare. East and West, ideological combat; Religious, Political and Economic. Terorizm by different definitions............ GOoD and (D)EVIL.

No working class tradition, heavy industry surplus to global requirements. The service sector creates our servitude. Leisure parks and shopping malls have taken over. Telecom shares and buying a council house, the aspirational socialists sold out. From working class to leisure class. No more class consciousness only a consumer consciousness. Time to wake up from passive slumber and realise what we are being sold is a lie, and past it's sell by date. We demand a change of product, or full refund. Freedom from the slavery of the freedom of choice.

'

The moral decline of socialsim is in exact relation to its series of compromises with older images of society and to its faliure to sustain and clarify the sense of an alternative human order' - Raymond Williams.

'

The true perferction of man lies, not in what man has, but what man is. Private property has crushed true individualism and set up an individualism that is false' - Oscar Wilde.

The Red Flag ep - Billy Bragg/Aztec Camera/Robert Wyatt....................... http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7QEOK4A6

I ain't gonna go on about the hugh influence The Clash have had on me throughout my life, or that they're the best rock'n'roll group ever, or that they're still the only band that matter, and I take no credit for compiling this collection of 4 classic Clash tracks (that's down to Inder on the clash forum. I did the cover mind you.) These tracks are taken from a gig recorded live in Italy on their 1984 Back To Basics tour. No more Mick or Topper, but an extra fueled up and fired'n'wired Joe Strummer. During his time in Milan Joe was going through some bad times and spent three days drinking. This 'meltdown' comes out in the performance, especially on these 4 tracks. It's "White hot, fast,edgy, paranoid and very turbulent." So says Inder. If yer into The Clash, take a trip to the forum and see how The Clash still inspire, unite and bring folks together even though its been 20 years; since they called it a day, plus there's loads of excellent live stuff up for grabs. The links over to your left in the Check out These List.

THE CLASH - Milan, Italy, Feb 1984 : 1)Janie Jones 2)Tommy Gun 3)Garageland 4)White Riot

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FB4MMIAN

FEAR IS THE STATES BEST FRIEND

LOOK CLOSER TO SEE THE TRUTH

LET THE TRIBE INCREASE

I GIVE MY LIFE TO SOMETHING NEVER UNDERSTOOD....................
Undeniably the best band to emerge from the 'Anarcho Punk Scene' of the 1980's were THE MOB. I'm not going to go into a history of the band, if you wanna know more about them check out Ian Glasper's: The Day The Country Died. All that needs to be said here is that they wrote some of the most personal, intense emotional songs ever committed to vinyl. Dark and brooding anthems of anomie, alienation and turmoil. "Our life, our world, mapped out in scars, carved on wrists and backs of arms" The only single they released on Crass Records 'No Doves Fly Here' is probably the most harrowing anti war songs ever (followed a close second by Television Personalities 'A Sense Of Belonging') The subject matters may have been bleak, but the tunes and rhythms had an uplifting dance feel to them. A little known fact is that 90's Madcheter wannabees Northside cited The Mob as an influence. Their debut L.P 'Let The Tribe Increase' is a classic, one of the few things I can still listen to from that period. I saw The Mob many times live in squatted churches, village halls, anarchy centres and once in a school class room, and they were always great nights out of freedom and fun. What you've got on offer here is a recording of a gig they did, almost 24 years ago at The London Musicians Collective in Chalk Farm. A small room in an old warehouse building at the top of a flight of iron stairs that ran up the outside of the building (if my memory serves me correctly.) The recording aint the best, but it is an artifact of the anarcho scene, if you listen carefully you can hear a dog barking on the recording.

THE MOB - Live @ The LMC 22/1/83.
Another Day, Another Death/Cry Of The Morning/Gates Of Hell/Raised In A Prison/Fools/Our Life, Our World/Witch Hunt/Slayed
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6XU6MQ70

Untitled #1

Are you happy in your work ?
Are you happy in your play ?
Happy with the boredom of every single day.
Happy with the bosses and their stealing hands.
Happy with the misery in our divided land.
Happy with the poverty and wilful neglect.
Happy with the lottery numbers you select.
Are you happy with your looks as your hair turns grey ?
Are you happy living through the stress of every day ?

The Great Refusal...A Scream of Rejection, Dissent and Negation.

ACOUSTIK KASABIAN

As promised a while back, here's a compilation of akoustic tunes by:Leicester Lager Lads (of the people) KASABIAN. This finds them in a more stripped down mode of production.

1) LSF 2) Processed Beats 3) 55 4)Shoot The Runner 5) British Legion 6) The Doberman 7) Me Plus One 8) I'm So Tired 9) Shoot The Runner(Blue Grass Cowboy version)

Bonus Tracks: British Legion The Doberman/Processed Beats (Alternate versions)

It's Just a Click Away:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NPWV9FEB

ESCAPE

In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear.
- William Blake

Man was born free; and everywhere he is in chains. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Mob - Raised In A Prison http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RAY2CNYX

DON'T LOOK FOR MEANINGS, WHEN THERE ARE NONE.

This morning I listened to Lost Johnny by Motorhead, a tune written by Lemmy and Mick Farren from The Deviants, what a fucking song.
Went to work, came back home and listened to a live recording of The Clash in 1978, recorded in Hastings, (cheers to Le coat on satchs strummer forum for that) what a fucking band.
Now I'm thinking what to post on the blog before I have to go back to work tonight.

Mick Farren and The Deviants - Lost Johnny http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ESJKB5RT

The Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D8MPYB76
(Live on Acoustic Busking tour 1985)

1st POST OF 2007

Thought this should be a significant sort of post. You know, a few predictions/premonitions; situation in Iraq's gonna get worse, Bush and Blair becoming history, The View being seen as best guitar band since Oasis(even though they're not very good), Joy Division revival and lots of freaky weather. Then I thought why?? What's so significant about the start of another year. Years are just numbers and age is just a number and I don't wanna be The Prisoner.