uncarved.org blog

Win the entire JUNK back catalogue!
You lucky lucky people!

Aphasic is a stalwart of the breakcore/speedcore/whatevercore scene. He was one of the founders of the legendary Dead by Dawn nights at Brixton’s 121 Centre and released a number of tunes on the seminal Praxis label before starting his own Ambush Records with DJ Scud.

He set up his own label, JUNK, at the end of 2003 after relocating to the Netherlands. JUNK builds on the Ambush sound – ragged dancefloor killers bump up against more abstract downtempo tracks. Junk’s releases have torn up the place at Sick & Twisted and have also featured on CD or online mixes by LFO Demon, DJ Ripley and DJ Brokenyolk.

THE STORY SO FAR:

Aphasic - Yeah Yeah Yeah Whatever (Junk 01) 12”

”Two ultra fast tracks and two slower-paced tracks. Influences move from Indian drumming to old skool hardcore, from salsa to classical, from ragga to musique concrete via dub, punk and jazz.”
“To the Top” is insane everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mash up at its best. Also includes a collaboration with Bong Ra.

Sickboy - Owley Girl (JUNK02) 12”
Aphasic - We Are Junk (JUNK03) 12”

Previously reviewed here.

Patric C - VIP (Very Impossible Person) (JUNK04) 12”

This is the latest release - from Berlin-based Patric C (previously of EC8OR) and is a further shot in the arm – at 200bpm! The “take your hands of my ba-bomp ba-bomp bomp” vocal sample guarantees hip-wigging aplenty.

You can hear mp3s of this release at http://www.j-u-n-k.com/

THE PRIZES:

JUNK have kindly given me two sets of each release to give away to the competition winners.

1st Prize – all four JUNK 12” sent to you anywhere in the world, for free.
2nd Prize – your choice of two of the 12”.
3rd Prize – the two remaining 12” not claimed by the winner of the 2nd prize.

THE QUESTIONS:

1) What does “aphasic” mean?
2) What does the phrase “junk funk” mean to you?

THE RULES:

a) My decision is final, capiche?
b) The selection process will favour people who answer the questions with a bit of thought, humour, creativity, and/or political rigour.
c) I reserve the right to publish your answers here.
d) Email your entries to [junk “at” uncarved “dot” org]
e) The closing date is 23rd September 2005.

“Yeah… In smoking sensimiella you gotta give thanks and praise unto the almighty Lord God Jehovia… do it Jah… MURDER!”

Maxi Priest and Paul “Barry Boom” Robinson produced Philip Levi’s “Mi God Mi King”; the first vinyl outing for a member of the troupe of Saxon MCs (more about them soon).

The tune originally came out on a Bad Breed 7″ in 1984 and stormed up the reggae charts, hitting the number one spot in February. The reason for its success was that it was the first bit of vinyl to capture the “fast chat” style which had dominated Saxon and other soundsystems for the previous year, if not longer.

“…Mi God, Mi King
Him name Jah-ov-yah
Him inspire me to be a mike chatter
Mi mass wid di mike, round the amplifier
Mi fling way di slackness, cause now a culture
The conscious lyrics yuh a go hear me utter…
So if you are an adult or a teenager,
Seh every day you wake up you’ve read a chapter…”

UK Soundsystems of the time looked to JA for inspiration and Ranking Joe’s rapid fire delivery on yard tapes had caught on big time. But the Saxon MCs twisted the style to suit local conditions, so Levi’s debut combines righteousness and ganja smoking with couplets such as:

“…Sweetest singer a Sugar Minott
Maddest comedian is Kenny Everett
Jackal a turn in a vampire bat
But when he see sun he can’t take that…”

It’s this localism, combined with skillful delivery and wicked reworkings of old riddims (”Heavenless” in this case) which set the pace for UK deejay records for the next few years, and indeed to this day.

When the Bad Breed pressing sold out, the tune was repressed on Level Vibes as a 12″. In fact this was a Maxi Priest/ Papa Levi double header, with Maxi taking the first cut on each side, Levi following with a deejay version and then the dub finishing up.

I can’t begin to describe how well all this works – Maxi’s “Sensi” is one of the best UK roots tunes I’ve heard with its proper raw production (cruelly polished up on his 1st LP) – following it with “Mi God Mi King” doubles the impact - Levi’s ability to cram more words into a line mean that it actually feels like the riddim is pitched up. It isn’t. His break-out into double speed vocals half way through the track provide the kind of intensity also seen in jungle with its beats going twice the speed of the bassline.

“…Living in babylon as a black man
Well all me face is racialism
When me weak they say that me strong
When me right they say that me wrong…”

The flipside of the 12″, with Maxi’s “Love in the Ghetto” coupled with Levi’s “Mi Deh Ina Mi Yard” is perhaps even better. Maxi haunting vocals making an appearance in the background of Levi’s ominous chat about the Brixton riots…

Veteran reggae journalist Penny Reel remembers the demand for the song at the time meaning that all the available record presses in London were running full pelt, 24 hours a day to satisfy demand.

Indeed “Mi God Mi King” was so successful that it was snapped up by Sly & Robbie in JA, who released it on their own Taxi label. Levi then made history once again when the tune became the first by a UK deejay to reach number one in the JA charts. Imagine the feelings of elation that must have unleashed in the reggae community in the UK and London, who had looked to Jamaica for inspiration since the very beginning…

“…True me no check for politician
No care who win the election
Pon the mike me please everyone
Flashing down style and fashion”

Chapter Two: Papa Levi - onwards and upwards…

“What? Is this some kind of post-ironic ironic thing?” - a fictional uncarved blog reader…

Cos, obviously he’s rubbish reggae, isn’t he? The apotheosis of crossover crapness – watered down JA vibes for tourists on beaches and that guy from accounts who made an arse of himself at this office party. It’s reggae-lite for people who don’t get all excited by how weird Lee Perry is. Innit?

Well, let’s examine the evidence…

Max Elliot was born on 10th June 1962 in Lewisham. His dad was a steelworker and his Mum divvied up her time between her children and the church. She named the 8th of her offspring Max after her fondness for Max Bygraves. Max grew up in south London, going to the same school as footballer Ian Wright (who he’d later nearly hug the living death out of on “This is Your Life”).

I imagine growing up as a teenage black youth in 70s London it would have been nigh-on impossible to avoid reggae. At some point Max embraced rastafari and changed his name to Maxi Priest (after Priest Levi, one of the figureheads of the 12 tribes of Israel - I did have a quick look into this, but got a bit lost!).

Perhaps surprisingly, given his involvement in the church choir, Maxi’s first involvement with the reggae scene was technical and not musical. Having trained as a carpenter he was invited to build speaker boxes for none other than Saxon Studio International – the ruling sound of the day.

Throughout the 80s, Saxon cornered the market in UK dancehall. They clashed everyone from Lloyd Coxsone to Jah Shaka, eventually going all the way to New York to beat all comers in the world clash. Saxon are probably best known for their fast chat MCs like Papa Levi, Asher Senator and Smiley Culture, who became internationally respected and successful. But Maxi sang alongside the DJs and would eventually eclipse them all.

After some time on the sound Maxi collaborated with Paul Robinson (aka Barry Boom) and his band Caution on the Level Vibes label. His first solo single Throw My Corn was released in 1984 and reached number 1 in the reggae charts (well, one of the reggae charts, anyway) in August of that year.

The tune is upbeat and happy, but still heavy on the bass. “Throw my corn but call no fowl – if you wanna pick it up it’s your business”. An old expression from yard, perhaps best known because of the different tune by Larry Marshall of (nearly) the same title, which coined the name of the foundation riddim.

What does it mean? Err, ok. Originally “Me t’row carn, me no call me neighbour fowl”, it’s about showing yourself by your actions, not your words. I’m guessing (”no shit, John”), but it’s along the lines of “I’m not calling you a chicken because you ate my chicken feed, but people can make their own minds up about what you’re like…”

The b-side was even better. Strolling On isn’t exactly meat and drink to hardcore roots fans – “Strolling along… with a beautiful girl like you…” - but it is a shining example of the variety and quality of mid 80s UK reggae. The version took things one step further with some fantasticly melancholic horns, horns that make you feel…

Caution – Strolling On Version (Level Vibes 1984) zipped mp3

The 2nd solo single, Should I was released shortly after and reached number 1 in (one of) the reggae charts in December of 1984. This was a definite progression (tho perhaps not in the “correct” direction for the purists). The production is extremely glossy and commercial, and it was around this time that Maxi signed a major deal with 10 Records (a subsidiary of Virgin).

It shouldn’t be forgotten that there was, and remains, a huge market for this sort of reggae - mainly amongst women. Of course the lyrical themes (in this case, being wronged by his woman, but still wondering if he should let her “stick around”) and production values do not lend themselves to being leapt on by crate-digging fanboys decades after the event, but there are some great tunes in the “lovers rock” genre which exist on their own terms, for their own fanbase.

Lovers rock is as important, in its own way, as Shaka-esque steppers, or cockney chat in terms of the UK’s place on the reggae map. It’s a sub-genre which was crystalised in the UK, and named in south London, which then became popular “back a yard”. There are some moves to re-evaluate the more “cultural” aspects of lovers at the moment but it remains hugely ignored by all except its target audience…

The first fruit of the deal with 10 Records was the album You’re Safe. Now… this is definitely still reggae, but it’s about as far removed from dour sufferation laments as is possible. For sure, the first track is about “singing songs of freedom”, but it’s actually a jaunty number about birds singing in springtime, complete with backing singers chirping “tweet tweet”!

Even upbeat tracks like Caution or the title track with its “Worries in the Dance” refrain have their toughness submerged under a slick 80s production. Somebody was clearly putting a lot of energy behind Maxi at this point, which is certainly an interesting insight into the popularity and commercial prospects for reggae at the time. (Where is the UK Sean Paul? or is that my bias - maybe it’s that young rascal chap?).

Of course, the investment paid off - big time.

Maxi has now sold more records in his lifetime than Bob Marley did in his (curtailed as it was). He’s travelled the world promoting reggae and fusing it with other genres. And yeah, maybe he’s strayed too far from my tastes on occasion, but the fact that he’s sustained himself as a reggae artist throughout 20 years in the dog-eat-dog music business is worthy of some serious respect.

His cover of Derrick Harriott’s Some Guys Have All The Luck went top 20 in 1987. Which is cheesy as you like, yes, but check these lyrics (and read them through gritted teeth in a slightly aggressive fashion. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, then you’re probably not bitter and twisted enough to be reading this blog, right?)

Alone in a crowd on a bus after work
and I’m dreaming
The guy next to me has a girl in his arms
My arms are empty
How does it feel when the girl next to you
says she loves you
It seem so unfair when there’s love everywhere
but there’s none for me

Some guys have all the luck
Some guys have all the pain
Some guys get all the breaks
Some guys do nothing but complain

Probably his best known tune Wild World (originally by Cat Stevens) hit the top 5 in 1988 (and sounds way better than I remember it - maybe I am just getting too goddamn old or something).

Housecall, his collaboration with Shabba Ranks, was a huge hit and it was Maxi’s “Shabba!” call which was sampled so much that it became a part of UK popular culture - Peter Kay being able to raise a laugh off the back of it on “Phoenix Nights”.

And Maxi is still on it: last year’s I Believe was one of the most popular cuts on Donovan “Vendetta” Bennett’s huge “Drop Leaf” riddim. A recent interview on David Rodigan’s Kiss FM show proved that Maxi was still happy and humble, even just after 17,000 people stayed out in the Miami rain to see him peform.

It all started on Saxon, and soundsystem is still a big part of Maxi’s perspective as this recent quote shows:

“The experience of being on the sound systems, through all the ups and downs, is what put me here today. I keep my ear to the ground and I’m very much aware of what’s going on in dancehall and bashment. I like to think I’m somewhat of a foundation for that, just as I looked at John Holt, Beres Hammond and Dennis Brown as the foundation for what I do.”

Soon come: The Papa Levi connection.

John Eden vs Paul Meme - Boom Boom Bashment Mix

63 minutes 9 seconds/87Mb/192K stereo zipped mp3 (right click and “save as”)

Quite clearly there is no way I’m going to out-do the sheer balls-out hyperbole of Paul’s sleevenotes, so I’ll keep it personal…

For me, this mix started before Shake The Foundations volume 1 was completed in the summer of 2002. I was much more immersed in the current goings on of ragga then – listening to Rodigan every Sunday night, tuning into pirates, devouring the monthly catalogues from Dub Vendor. It was a mania I have more under control at the moment (for now anyway).

Actually buying the tunes was something of a problem because I was pretty skint and the sevens had a habit of disappearing by the time I got the cash together to show my face in the shop…

But those Rodigan tapes went round and round in my head. The occasional one-riddim LP was snuck into the house, and Hackney Libraries came out on top with most of the Greensleeves one-riddim CDs in their racks at a very reasonable hire charge of 80p. Basically this mix would be impossible if I didn’t live in London.

I lived and breathed the CDs - on the way to work, at home in the evening on headphones (because only obsessives want to listen to 20 cuts of the same riddim in a row, yes?). Some of the riddims were rubbish, some of the great riddims had mainly rubbish performances on them or had great cuts which were spoilt half way through because of the obligatory bunning of the bogeyman, er, “battyman”. Slowly but surely the cuts were whittled down… ticks and crosses.

It’s safe to say that this mix falls short of what the usual audiences expect – trad reggae fans (cf trad jazz fans) won’t generally listen to anything after 1985, whilst the bashment massive won’t listen to anything that came out before last month.

The furious issuing of one-riddim albums, on an almost weekly basis by Greensleeves and VP has meant that a lot of tunes get completely overlooked in the stampede, and also that quality has been superseded by quantity. At one point it seemed all Sizzla had to do was to gargle over the latest riddim and it would be all over the pirate stations like a rash. With labels needing to provide the “big 2″ with 20 cuts of a riddim (or 40 in cases like Martial Arts and Sledge!) it seemed like nobody was listening to some cuts more than once - not even the people who produced them.

Which is why, in traditional white-boy crate-digging style, it’s not bad to spend a bit of time raking over the ashes. In 20 years there will be a new cohort of trad reggae fans paying big bucks for some of these tunes on ebay, whilst bemoaning the fact that ALL reggae made in 2045 sounds awful.

The mix was originally going to be entitled “Girls, Guns, Ganja”, those being the traditional preoccupations of most deejays. Of course many of the good cuts are actually from girls, and the lyrical preoccupations do move way beyond the basics. Half the fun is deciphering the vocal codes for yourself, though, so I won’t get into it line by line.

In terms of the actual music you have the subtle minimalism like Double Jeopardy, and the pounding Forensic. The Wu-tang and spaghetti western influences on Lightning and Mexican rub up against the more traditional African elements in Amharic and Nine Night.

As ever, I feel like a total blagger working with such excellent material. Most of what I do is re-presenting other people’s work in a new arena. If you like this mix the credit is due to the producers and artists and the best way to thank them is to stump up some cash for their work.

Tracklist

1. Double Jeopardy Riddim
Kings Of Kings (Ce’Cile Charlton & Cordel “Scatta” Burrell) 2001

Jah Mason & Chrisinti: Up Up Up
Madd Anju feat. Cecile: Feel So Good
Pinchers & Norris Man: Set Dem So

2. Bushy Bushy Riddim
Extra Extra (Debbie Harding & Harvel Hart) for 2001

Ce’cile: Spider
Danny English: Right Ya Now
Elephant Man: Sex
Sizzla: Bus Out A Dis
Alizade: Energy
Ce’cile: Spider

3. Mexican Riddim
Pot Of Gold (Richie Stephens) 2002

Bounty Killer: Dem Bawling
Mad Cobra: Fool
Ninja Man: Sharp Like A Knife

4. Rice & Peas Riddim
Natural Bridge (Rohan “Snow Cone” Fuller) 2002

Fat Bastard: Rice & Peas
Lady G: Girls Know What Guys Want
Spragga Benz & Elephant Man: Warrior Cause
Frankie Sly: Dem Nuh Know We
Shano: School

5. Lightning Riddim
2 Hard (Jeremy Harding) 2001

Ward 21: Don’t Push It / Pacemakers Bad Man
Gabriel: The Powers
Kurupp, Mr. Vegas, & Sean Paul: Eye For Eye
Buccaneer: Oh My God

6. Liquid Riddim
2 Hard (Jeremy Harding) 2001

Sean Paul & Cecile: Can You Do The Work
Devonte & Tanto Metro: Give It To He
Madd Anju: Someting For Dat
Lady Saw: Tell Me What You Like

7. Amharic Riddim
Jam II (Jammy “Jam 2″ James) 2003

Sizzla: Peace
Cecile: All Night
Lady Saw: Hot Gal Fi Life
Spragga Benz & TOK: We Waah
Spragga Benz: Dem A Chat

8. Tai Chi Riddim
B-Rich (Richard “Shams” Browne) 2002

T.O.K.: Cree
Sean Paul: Time After Time
Wayne Marshall: Need A Girl Tonight
Tanya Stephens: Please Me
Lady Saw: Yeh Yeh

9. Nine Night Riddim
Studio 2000 (Steelie and Clevie) 2001

Lexxus: Gwaan Trace
Red Rat: Fright Night
Mister G: Old Crook
Captain Barkey: Wine Baby Wine
Wicker Man: Girls Gungo Walk
Sasha: Poppy
Determine: Rappin’ Up Rhymes

10. Forensic Riddim
In The Streetz (Mr. Vegas & “Computer Paul” Henton) 2003

Kerry: I Got The Man
Determine: Round And Round
Cecile: Weh Yu Up To
Turbulence: Hype in Jah
Mr Vegas: Fuck Face

11. Big Up Riddim
Taxi (Sly and Robbie) 2004
Wayne Marshall: Big Up
Lady Saw: Messed Up
Bounty Killer: No More Suffering

Nice bit of jump up dancehall for your downloading pleasure over at Shards, Fragments and Totems.

Guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step, this one…

Ladies and Gentlemen, we present for your delectation, a load of rough with a dab of smooth, the massive sounds of…

 

 DJ Broken Yolk - Keep It Chopped Mix: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tracklist:

1. pierre henry - la dixieme symphonie
2. king tubby - a rougher version
3. sweet sweetback’s badass song
4. bong ra - soundwave
5. parasite - boombaklat
6. drop the lime - serious lover
7. patric c - vip
8. modeselektor - black barbie remix
9. ove naxx - warte
10. bogdan raczynski - i will eat your children too - track 1
11. blaerg - shower scene
12. drop the lime - sweet desire
13. norma fraser - first cut is the deepest
14. panacea - total destruction remix
15. parasite - innabong
16. dj scud - put up your lighters
17. jahba - warpigz
18. mully - boom boom hexagonal mushroom
19. shitmat - crap Idol
20. nathan barley icecream loop
21. venetian snares and speedranch - unborn baby
22. the alessi brothers - oh lori
23. barrington levy and beenie man - two sounds jungle (tom and jerry remix)
24. bad company - the fear
25. alice cooper - black widow
26. drop the lime - summat or other
27. schoolly d - saturday night
28. istari laserfarhi - bass terror
29. masonna - noisy shit
30. nathan barley squeaky loops

“oh and somewhere in there there’s a bit of venetian snares ‘twelve’ and a bit off panicstepper’s ‘the shuffler’”

Interview with DJ Broken Yolk, April 2005

Tell me a bit about your musical background - first influences, dodgy teenage bands and all that…

As a teenager, I got into a ridiculously broad range of music thanks to radio shows like John Peel and On the Wire and from mining the collection at the local library.

Got involved with the Molotov organisation - a group who liked to do anything as long as it was stupid - religious club nights with a preacher, fake tours of art galleries, and a fanzine called Idiot Soup, that was a bit like a flat A5 Stephen Hawking but without all the science, and mostly about wrestling.

They appealed to me, cos they were funded by this American culture-jam organisation called RTmark, which meant that I got paid loads of money to play records, as long as there was a CD running underneath with masked messages and speeches. At this time no-one would let me play anywhere, never mind pay me.

Afer the funding eneded, played out for a while with the Twonk sound system - highlight of which was a few events in a converted public toilet called spend-a-penny, with strict restrictions on themed playlists - easy listening and fucked up noise, the five elements - all crowdpleasing stuff - we got thrown out after three nights…

At this time, played in the only group I’ve been in - The London Toy Orchestra. We played toys. Sometimes I’d do vocals through a space-alien voice changer.

When and why did you first start dj-ing and what are the origins of Brokenyolk?

Seemed silly to not be dj’ing with a stupid large record collection, and most club nights scared me off with monotony and being trendy, and having DJ’s that were good and stuff. All that guff about seamless mixing…

The name Broken yolk came from watching a scene from Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which as part of an “excitement on entering the big city” sequence (skyscapers, planes landing, busy streets, also featured a shot of someone standing on an egg. I rewound it and watched it about twenty times I thought it was so beautiful. But then I was on acid at the time. Some people believe the egg is a symbol of the soul…

For the completely uninitiated, what sort of music do you play?

Easy listening and records from charity shops.

Fucked up noise, ragga, dancehall, jungle, fast bleepy electronica that isn’t too speccy with bits of dirty hip-hop: in a word - yardcore.

Tell me about your involvement in the Sick and Twisted nights

I went along to the night nervously offering a mixtape. I hadn’t much of an idea of any type of scene or playlist - I just played the noisiest records I had and threw in bits of acid house randomly and circus music. The next month I was playing at the night and they kept inviting me back. It took about a year or so until I realised that I was a resident, and it wasn’t just that they had forgotten to ask anyone else.

It’s a wicked night - it’s all about the music and a wide variety at that: they’ve never given me any hassle (although there was a raised eyebrow the other month when I played a whole James Brown record without bringing in the gabba guns).

You’re generally stuck in the “warm up” slot at S&T - does that piss you off?

Occasionally I prefer a later slot, as its very rewarding seeing the dancefloor respond to something special - whether it’s a new tune or your mix, but it’s also an exciting challenge doing the first slot. Gives you the chance to build things up slowly and mess around a bit more without having to keep people dancing - but trying making sure they are by the end of the set. Gives me lots of freedom to play experimental stuff and recordings of films. (midnight slot at S+T on Friday 13th May)

Where else have you played and what are the maddest/baddest/best things which have happened when you’ve been on?

I did a hip hop and funk set on the ragga system that was at Brixton Reclaim the Streets - which managed to draw a huge crowd and a breakdance contest started - it was a exciting day and moment, and felt like I was in a film.

Having people Nailing eggs to a cross during a religious themed set at OMSK with a live preacher.

My favourite event was about a year ago. I collaborated on a German dance project in Dusseldorf. I played a short set that started very calm and peaceful and ended in absolute punishing abusive noise.

The audience had been herded into a very small scaffolding box covered in bin bags, in the dark. It was a very hot day indeed - an experiment to see how long they would take the abuse before they burst out. They lasted five and a half minutes. I broke the amplifier and had to scream instead. I’d love to do it again, but it is hard to find somewhere where no-one has a high regard for health and safety!

In the last year I’ve done a few sets at festivals in Europe - it feels good to play outside of London where people can be less reactive. It’s nice to be taken at face value too - next one is the wonderfully named Noxious Festival in France in June.

What other projects are you involved with - do you make tracks of your own, or plan to?

There’s an ongoing project of making short films about “Outsiders” - street poets, untutored musicians etc. I’ve gots some good footage of amazing subjects and can’t wait to edit it into very short films - I want them to be condensed - full of impact and interest.

What is it about noise?

I think there’s a catharsis and excitement and exaggeration that takes place with noise, that can just enhance the feel of it perfectly - like a Bo Diddley record or the Channel One sound system - it just takes the essence of a sound further into your ears, penetrating more deeply.

Radio 4 answer: Without silence, noise is empty… hmmmmm (strokes chin).

Me and Paul have come up with a new mix for download - Jammys digital to start, but mainly mid 80s fast chat cockney business. Essentially the product of too many evenings round at mine while Paul was staying over. I’d play him my records and then he’d go away and painstakingly muck about with the cassette tape adding effects and getting rid of our mistakes.

No big analysis from me, I will try and write something “proper” about the artists on there in due course.

Tracklist, and Paul’s sleevenotes and commentary here.

Direct link to zipped mp3 here.

Part Three: Crucial Youth

Background

Only in America. Whilst anarchopunks like Crass adopted a huge, all-encompassing vision of the evils of capitalism, spawning a million identikit bands who dressed in black and eschewed meat, puritan punk in the US took an even stranger turn.

The Teen Idles were formed in Washington DC in 1979. The band was composed of teenagers (hence the name) who were unable to attend many local gigs because they were held in ‘over 21s’ venues – a result of the US’ utterly retarded post-prohibition licensing laws.

When the group toured the west-coast in 1980, they encountered a club owner in Los Angeles who was sympathetic to da yoof being admitted to shows, and had begun writing a large “X” on their hands with a permanent marker as a warning to bartenders that such persons should not be served alcohol.

Upon returning home, bassist Ian MacKaye suggested this idea to various DC club owners as a means to allow teenagers into the clubs, while preventing them from being served alcohol. Several began doing so, and the “X” quickly became a badge of pride – even for over 21’s who would have been getting lagered up in a more reasonable society.

MacKaye’s 2nd band, Minor Threat turned this lack of indulgence into a cause celebre with their song “Out of Step”…

I don’t smoke
Don’t drink
Don’t fuck
At least I can fucking think

…and into a mass-movement with their song “Straight Edge”:

I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don’t even think about speed
That’s something I just don’t need
I’ve got the straight edge
I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
‘Cause I know I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I’ve got the straight edge

Soon a whole heap of kids, on both coasts, were forming bands and not getting off their faces, in a somewhat freakish inversion of punk’s nihilist origins.

Development of the scene – Youth of Today

Me you youth crew!
if the world was flat I’d grind the edge
to the positive youth my heart I pledge
X on my hand now take the oath
to positive youth to positive growth
to positive minds, to pure clean souls
these will be all my goals
walk with me and my crew
there is so much shit we can do
and we won’t stop until we’re through

Youth of Today – Youth Crew

Youth of Today formed in 1985 in New York City and are credited with being both prolific and intolerant of non-straight edge behaviour:

“once, when the Dead Kennedys played, I jumped up on stage and grabbed the cigarette from the bass player’s mouth and stomped it into the ground” – Porcell, Youth of Today

Their songs like preached (and I use the word correctly here) a personal, rather than a political revolution:

“Yeah, when I first got to New York, I hated the scene. Where was the punk, the alternative? I mean, the clothes were dirtier and people had weirder haircuts, but basically they were doing the same thing that every burnout in my high school was doing - listening to music, getting drunk and getting in fights. They reminded me of my older brother, only he’d get plastered and go to Ozzy shows, and the punks would huff glue and go to CB’s. So what was the difference? I had gotten into punk to get away from all that junk in the first place. I think that’s why the whole Straight Edge thing caught on in the city. People were ready for a real alternative. They wanted something with substance, with a message, something that was going to help them rise above their miserable surroundings, not get them deeper into it. And man, Straight Edge caught on like wildfire. It was such an exciting time in New York.” – Porcell, Youth of Today.

The group are credited with creating a confrontational culture in the scene, where despite all the songs about unity, straight-edgers reportedly attacked people at gigs for smoking or having a beer:

You come drunk to the shows
looking for a fight stumble my way
Maybe we might
why do you act that way
I can’t guess take a look at yourself
you’re a mess you say you Wanna fight
We just might
stoned as a zombie your eyes are red
head for the dance floor you’re as good as dead

Youth of Today - We Just Might

Needless to say, this did not translate very well across the ocean. When I saw Youth of Today at London’s SOAS in 1989, the bar was doing a roaring trade and there were maybe a dozen recognisably ’straight’ people in the venue. Amazing stage-diving and OK music, is about all I can remember of it.

Mid to late 80s Straight Edge was criticised for being ‘jock-punk’ (i.e. the clean cut, hooded top sXe’ers would tend to be more fixated on sports and school than subversion).

There are obvious limits to this type of subculture, which we will now (somewhat haphazardly, and indeed, drunkenly) explore. Firstly, the arrival of one band sparked all sorts of controversy, and hilarity.

Crucial Youth

“I used to be nasty and mean
Until I realised the world is one big scene”

Crucial Youth - Youth of the World

“Just one beer is all it takes
before your straight edge bends and breaks
Just one beer, there’s no excuse
You should have stuck to drinking juice”

Crucial Youth – Just One Beer

Crucial Youth arrived in New Jersey in 1987 “to clean up the scene”. Their first album, The Posi-Machine, and the accompanying interview in Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll resulted in utter bewilderment, anger and hilarity:

Dear Maximum Rock & Roll and readers,
….My second complaint is lodged at Crucial Youth and the people at MRR who consented to publish such fascistic trash! It is one thing to be and live and practice straightedge philosophy, it is another thing to turn it into facistic dogmatism and shove it down peoples throats! WHO F**+#*CKING DIED AND MADE YOU GODS OF STRAIGHTEDGE?

The songs on the LP dealt with the usual issues of not drinking, or taking drugs:

“When you smoke pot
What have you got?
I’ll tell you what
Not a lot”

Crucial Youth - Keep Off The Grass

“Be just like me, and Mr T
Be just like me – DRUG FREE
[blistering version of A-Team theme tune, with voiceover]
“You wanna know why nobody ever dies on the A-Team?
They don’t take drugs
You shouldn’t take drugs either
Make it a good scene… positively!”

Crucial Youth - Me & Mr T

…But also featured songs on not drinking caffeine, following the highway code (”Cross on the green – not in between”) and dietary information:

“Everybody listen to Crucial Youth
We’re going to tell you about the four food groups”

Crucial Youth – 4 Food Groups

The album was pressed on “milk-white vinyl”. On similar note, straight edge’s “Positive Mental Outlook” was given a re-rub:

“brush away, brush away, brush three times a day,
brush!…I’ve got a positive dental outlook.”

Crucial Youth – Positive Dental Outlook

The band’s live shows included a huge “Youth Brush” which they would use on stage to clean up the scene.

The album came with a series of cartoons which combined straight edge philosophy with Jack Chick-style tracts. Crucial Youth satirised straight edge by pushing its moralism to the limit. This is probably best summed up by their “four rules”:

“Be Straight
Don’t Be Late
Bench Your Weight
Don’t Masturbate”

Crucial Youth – 4 Rules

“Scarlet M” developed the last “rule” further by incorporating some freaky (anti) sex education voiceover about suppressing primitive urges, and featuring frenzied vocals about getting hair on your palms. “You said it was ok, but now you do it every single day.”

The 2nd LP was a European release incorporating most of the tracks off the first album, but also featuring some new songs which took the Crucial Crew’s philosophy even further. “Be kind – rewind” urged people to return their video cassettes to the rental shop in the correct state.

“Mosh Mosh” was preceded by a band discussion on the creative process behind writing the lyrics, which is slightly less interesting when you realise that they are “Mosh! Mosh!” and nothing more. Crucial Youth, ever health and safety conscious provided some moshin’ “best practice” information as well.

“Those Who Curse” took straight edge bands to task for their potty mouths. “Santa Claus is Coming” from the Crucial Yule EP is one of the album’s final tracks, but unfortunately “Christmas Time for the Skinheads” is absent, so I haven’t heard the band singing:

Everyone’s having the time of their lives
Fighting with snowballs, not bottles and knives
Just like a snowman on a sunny day
White power hatred is melting away…

Satirical bands have necessarily short life-spans, but Crucial Youth certainly achieved their objective of cleaning up the scene in the late 80s.

Curiouser and curiouser

“The whole straight-edge thing for me was never about this kind of puritan lifestyle, where I was supposed to be leading the masses towards a better tomorrow” - Ian MacKaye, 1995

In some ways, Crucial Youth’s ridiculous positions had already been eclipsed by true believers. Youth of Today’s frontman Ray Cappo went on to form Shelter – a “krishnacore” band. Even in YoT he had talked extensively in interviews about meditation, vegetarianism, and his spiritual beliefs.

But even that seemed almost sensible compared to the trajectory of the “Hardline” movement:

“The time has come for an ideology and for a movement that is both physically and morally strong enough to do battle against the forces of evil that are destroying the earth (and all life upon it). One that cannot be bought, nor led astray by temptation. A movement free of the vices that sedate the mind and weaken the body. An ideology that is pure and righteous, without contradictions or inconsistencies. […]

A belief system, and a way of life that lives by one ethic - that all innocent life is sacred, and must have the right to live out its natural state of existence in peace, without interference. This single ethic ensures that all life, from a foetus, or a grown human (black, white, male or female), to an animal, or its habitat, is guaranteed equal rights, with liberty for all, regardless of someone’s personal bias against them. Under the principals of the Hardline ideology, all shall be permitted to do as they please as long as their actions do not harm, in any way, the rights of others.

Any action that does interfere with such rights shall not be considered a “right” in itself, and therefore shall not be tolerated. Those who hurt or destroy life around them, or create a situation in which that life or the quality of it is threatened shall from then on no longer be considered innocent, and in turn will no long have rights.

Adherents to the hardline will abide by these principals in daily life. They shall live at one with the laws of nature, and not forsake them for the desire of pleasure - from deviant sexual acts and/or abortion, to drug use of any kind (and all other cases where ones harms all life around them under the pretext that they are just harming themselves). And, in following with the belief that one shall not infringe on an innocent’s life - no animal product shall be consumed (be it flesh, milk or egg). Along with this purity of everyday life, the true hardliner must strive to liberate the rest of the world from its chains - saving life in some cases, and in others, dealing out justice to those guilty of destroying it.

Only with this dedication, and conviction - living a life that is in harmony with our stated goals and beliefs, gaining strength from out purity of body and mind, while actively opposing those who are guilty destroying the world with their poisonous thoughts, deeds and pollution, can we be victorious in the struggle.”

- Excerpt from the Hardline Manifesto

Hardline, as a philosophy, was mainly promulgated by a Tennessee-based band named, with little irony, Vegan Reich. The group were a clear as demonstration as any that the philosophy of straight edge could lead to utter reactionary positions which were more in keeping with evangelical Christian anti-abortionists than punk.

Vegan Reich’s trajectory became even stranger than that when their leading “light” Sean Penn (er, no, not that one) changed his name to Shahid ‘Ali Muttaqi on conversion to Islam. Vegan Reich became Vegan Jihad and Muttaqi put his weight behind the Islamist “Taliyah” movement:

“…the true Mu’min must strive to liberate the rest of the world from its chains - saving life in some cases, and in others, dealing out justice to those guilty of destroying it

Who are the guilty?

Those who hurt or destroy life around them, or create a situation in which that life or the quality of it is threatened shall from then on no longer be considered innocent, and in turn will no long have rights.

They are those who are guilty destroying the world with their poisonous thoughts…

Only through Jihad can true spiritual purity be achieved

Knowing this cannot come to pass while still locked in the chains of Babylon, we strive for justice and liberation by any means necessary. First, through an inward Jihad of self improvement, and spiritual refinement (manifesting in the moral and economic uplifting of our families, community and nation) and secondly, by waging an outward Jihad against the forces of evil that enslave this earth and make universal spiritual awakening impossible.”

As one commetator remarked: “They hope to achieve universal spiritual awakening by shrinking the universe down to one that includes only them.” Those of us who don’t want to inhabit any kind of universe which is run along such lines can take some comfort from Crucial Youth’s humour in the face of fanaticism.

Part Four will follow when I’ve tracked down some decent quality images.

Part Two: The Apostles

From 1979 onwards, Crass transformed punk, the anarchist movement in the UK, and the nature of protest globally. For better and for worse. There’s enough analysis (pro and con) of all that at the Uncarved critical look at anarchopunk pages.

And whilst not wanting to knock Crass’ contribution too much, it was always painfully obvious that they were mostly middle class: a mate of mine liked their punkier numbers, but had a real problem with more arty stuff like “Reality Asylum” because it reminded him of being told off by his plummy teachers at school. As Garry Bushell once wisely said (you can’t be wrong all the time) “Being middle class, they think that class doesn’t matter.”

The Apostles were a different kettle of fish entirely - formed in Hackney in 1980, more authentically prole than Crass could dream of…

After a number of gigs and cassette releases, their first 7″ Blow it up, Burn it Down, Kick it ’til it Breaks was released in 1983.

The sleeve alone stood out from the usual Crass fare. Yes, the patented black & white sloganeering and fold-out format was present and correct, but no Crass-clone would feature an eagle brandishing a machine gun and machete on the cover! The ‘1985′ emblem was also a statement against Crass’ apocalyptic counting down to 1984 in their catalogue numbers (321984, 221984, 121984 etc). A signifier of hope, and of there being no easy answers…

The articles inside the sleeve were a mixture of classic ranting, analysis, and some very practical information - including articles on breaking into squats and constructing an incendiary device(!).

It’s a serious understatement to say that the Apostles never toed the party line, and got into enough trouble for it over the years.

The “thank yous” section on the sleeve begins “Despite being the one of the most unpopular bands in London at present, probably because we aren’t drug addicts, we aren’t plastic pacifists [...] there are, incredibly, a few people who have risked their lives and reputations by actually helping us…”

As well as the sheep cartoon, the sleeve of the first 7″ also includes an account of a recent gig:

The Anarchist Speaks (or - free speech as long as you say the right things)

This is a brief true account of an incident at our set at the London Musicians Collective on Jan 22nd 1983. After finishing a number that was supposed to be half way through our set we were approached by the owner of the PA. He had just turned the vocal volume down and said ‘This is a pacifist PA and we didn’t bring it down for you to preach violence’.

So much for free speech. Basically we were asked by the organisers of the gig to come down and play our set, which we intended to do. He was asked to provide a PA. He was not asked to play at being god and decide in his ultimate wisdom what the bands playing should sing about.

If we’re so anti-pacifist, how can it be that 90% of the bands we’ve arranged gigs for have been of the kind that religiously worship pacifism? Obviously to enlarge our egos, or get in with the in-crowd or so we can crawl up the arses of those people who think we’ll be able to use to further our own evil ends. Or maybe even so we can molest some poor innocent gig-goer.

Well at least that’s what some people seem to think. I mean that’s what everyone tells their friends that we do, so it must be true.

Dave Apostle for the ‘Stuff your anarchy up your arse you hypocritical bunch of hippy tramps’ campaign 1983.

In fact, this sort of attitude proved to be very ahead of its time. Bands like Conflict would subsequently dump the holy grail of pacifism (often on purely pragmatic grounds - what do you do if nazi skinheads attack your gigs?) and Crass would, towards the end of their existence as a band, end up advocating damage to property, etc. Pacifism just doesn’t stand up in the cold light of day, and perhaps The Apostles were better placed to recognise this than some of the leading lights of the anarcho punk revolution.

Having slaughtered some of the sacred cows of the scene, the group wasn’t content to provide another easy-to-grasp set of rules to follow. You could never accuse The Apostles of playing it safe… by the time their 2nd 7″ Rising From the Ashes came out, Andy Martin was already plagued by doubts:

“When I read through everything Dave wrote for the first EP cover, I cringe. So does Dave. When I look through Larry’s vast collection of fanzines and I come across one of my anti-punk pro-anarchy and bombs smash the rich articles, I want to disappear into some cloud of obscurity. [...] Telling people they should make bombs is/was an irresponsible act of pointless selfishness. Urging people to riot (from the comfort of my safe Islington squat) is equal to urging them to go out and get arrested. What for? My ego?

I went to see Dave one Thursday afternoon in August and I was worried because I thought to myself ‘Oh fuck. Dave won’t like what I’ve done for the second EP cover. He’ll accuse me of turning into a Crass clone.’ But when I eventually brought up the subject, he didn’t grab me by the neck and knock me into next door’s bomb factory (joke!) or GROWL like I expected him to - he breathed a sigh of relief and said: ‘I was getting really pissed off. I felt like I’d have to put some boots, guns and bombs on the cover to keep you happy.”

The tunes on the 2nd EP dealt with racism (which was surprisingly uncommon in the early days of anarchopunk, far better to sing about impending nuclear annihilation!), a broken relationship (the excellent “Swimming in the Sea of Life” which ia a definite lost classic) an instrumental (again, few other Crass-clones did them), patronising the disabled, plus “Class War” and “The Stoke Newington 8″ which dealt positively with violent revolution and the people imprisoned for the Angry Brigade bombings…

Texts on the sleeve included information on the economics and detail of pressing your own record, animal rights, state of the punk scene, “Help your local community - shoot a junkie”, black on white racism, a dissection of a recent Garry Bushell article on the group, and huge swathes of other stuff. There was more text on most Apostles record covers than in most fanzines. And they were doing their own fanzine (called ‘Scum’) as well!

It seemed like the Apostles were agonisingly hardcore about rethinking everything, every day - almost to the point of schizophrenia. The 5th EP includes a note from Andy explaining that Dave had boycotted the studio sessions for the record because Andy had written “hello Skrewdriver!” on the sleevenotes to their previous single, as a (admittedly puerile) wind up to the holier-than-thou anarcho hordes.

The cartoon format continued to be championed - the whole cover of their 3rd LP The Acts of the Apostles in the Theatre of Fear was a practical story about the pitfalls of carrying out criminal damage of an evening (er, as you do).

The 5th LP Equinox Screams had a cartoon slagging off the hero worship of heavy metal fans on the cover. I have no idea why. It also managed to lose the group their entire fanbase in one fell swoop because of the lyrical content. A checklist:

Aleister Crowley poem
HP Lovecraft Invocation
“Rock Against Communism”
A Throbbing Gristle cover
“Kill or Cure” - on, ah, ‘queers’
“Rights for Whites”
“Nazi Baby” - a weird pisstaking love song ‘you’re a nazi baby - your anatomy could never flatter me’

So - a white power / Daily Mail / homophobic / occult / industrial / arty mash up from your favourite gay anarchopunk band!

In the 80s ideology ruled - and was often bought ‘off the peg’. Getting an Apostles record was like grabbing a box of cornflakes from the supermarket - only to find it filled with dog biscuits when you opened it up over breakfast.

Unsurprisingly, hardly anybody would have anything to do with the group after this, though there is some explanation in the interview with Homocore on uncarved.org - about playing with belief, taking on a persona to see what happens - artistic licence.

This blog entry has mainly focussed on the artwork and politics, but The Apostles also recorded some classic songs - I’ll try and come back to them at some point in the future.

At some point in the late 80s the Apostles ended and Academy 23 began. Academy 23 recorded a number of cassettes, records and CDs with a dizzying array of genres - punk, industrial, scottish folk songs, you name it.

Academy 23 eventually mutated into UNIT, who are still very much a going concern. Over 20 years and still going strong, and still winding up all-comers from what I’ve heard…

Apostles and Academy 23 CDs, tapes and vinyl are stil available from BBP Distribution

UNIT have just set up a prototype website as well: http://www.unit-united.co.uk/

Part Three in the series will follow…

Part One: Jamie Reid

Reid had been at Croydon art school with Malcolm McLaren in the sixties before forming the Suburban Press in 1970.

“It started off with our own community magazine which eventually lasted for six issues. From rather naïve beginnings it very quickly settled into a shit-stirring format, with thorough research into local politics and local council corruption, mixed with my graphics and some Situationist texts. [...] We uncovered an amazing amount of information about prominent local councillors and MPs [...] there was a lot of wheeling and dealing – jobs for the boys, construction jobs for big office blocks going to companies that they were chairman of, all the usual things that have always gone on…”

He would return to many of the graphics from Suburban Press as deadlines loomed during the heady days of designing for the Sex Pistols. And loomed they did – he was only given one night to knock up the artwork for the Pretty Vacant single by McLaren. The back cover used the “Boredom” and “Nowhere” buses which Suburban Press had designed for US “pro-situ” group Black Mask/Up Against The Wall Motherfucker. The front cover was done by buying and smashing a picture frame on the way to the office the next morning…

The Pistol’s next single Holidays in the Sun used the SI’s technique of detourning existing comic strips, in this case an advert from the Belgian Travel Service. It is quite amazing that the sleeve got through Virgin’s lawyers at the time, but given the outright hostility between Reid and Branson* and the downright subversive nature of some parts of the Sex Pistols camp, perhaps full disclosure was not on the agenda!

Inevitably the Belgian Travel Service took out an injunction and Jamie had to destroy the original artwork in front of their solicitor. That sounds both overly theatrical and completely meaningless in the 21st Century – with digital media destroying “the original” is an oxymoron, and I’m sure that ad agencies would be more than happy to strike some sort of co-sponsorship deal in these post-modern times. Having said that, I’m guessing that the destruction order was as much about humiliation than ensuring no further copies were circulated.

Reid’s work before, after and during Suburban Press is detailed in Up They Rise: The Incomplete Works of Jamie Reid (Faber & Faber 1987).

*Obligatory name drop – I had a brief chat with Jamie Reid at the 1989 Festival of Plagiarism held at Transmission Gallery in Glasgow. We discussed the sudden disappearance of the “Cyber-Punk” issue of Vague Magazine from Virgin Megastores across London. I asked him if he knew anything about it, given that he’d designed the cover – which featured Richard Branson in a balaclava. (The inside cover was a flyer by persons unknown ripping the piss out of a Virgin store in Glasgow for being run by hip-capitalists).

Anyway he didn’t know anything about the mag disappearing, but was happy to confirm that he’d always hated Branson, and had never trusted him. Jamie seemed well into what was happening at the Festival of Plagiarism, though - in his element wandering around chatting to people.

Part Two will follow in due course…