This is the late 1970s and '80s as explained through the urgent and still-relevant songs of the Clash, the Specials, the Au Pairs, the Style Council, the Pet Shop Boys, and nearly four hundred other bands and solo artists.Each chapter presents a mixtape (or playlist) of songs related to an alarming feature of Thatcher's Britain, followed by an analysis of the dialogue these artists created with the Thatcherite vision of British society. "Tell us the truth," Sham 69 demanded, and pop music, however improbably, did. It's a furious and sardonic account of dark times when pop music raised a dissenting fist against Thatcher's fascist groove thing and made a glorious, boredom-smashing noise. Bookended with contributions by Dick Lucas and Boff Whalley as well as an annotated discography, The Fascist Groove Thing presents an original and polemical account of the era.
FORMAT Paperback CONDITION Brand NewHugh Hodges has written extensively on African and West Indian music, poetry, and fiction, including essays on Fela Kuti, Lord Kitchener, and Bob Marley. Linton Kwesi Johnson praised his book Soon Come as "extremely engaging and an important, original scholarly work." He currently teaches at Trent University, Ontario, where his research focuses on cultural resistance in its many forms, and his band the Red Finks remains hopelessly obscure.Dick Lucas is a writer and visual artist, and the vocalist for three iconic punk bands: Subhumans, Citizen Fish, and Culture Shock. He is also the founder of independent punk label Bluurg Records.Boff Whalley is a writer and musician, and a founding member of Chumbawamba. He is also an avid fell runner, the subject of his book Run Wild. His most recent musical project is Commoners Choir, a "strange yet open and inclusive choir that meets in Leeds." The choir's most recent release is Untied Kingdom, which Folk Radio praises as "an exhilarating display of rousing natural togetherness, of pride and of passion.
Preface by Dick Lucas Foreword by Boff Whalley Part One: Everything''s Brilliant! (on politics and popular music) Mixtape 1: The Grocer''s Daughter Sex Pistols, "Anarchy in the UK" (1976) Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen" (1977) The Mekons, "Never Been in a Riot" (1978) David Bowie, "Fashion" (1980) UB40 "One in Ten" (1981) The Specials, "Ghost Town" (1981) Madness, "Grey Day" (1981) Instant Automatons, "Nothing Ever Happens to Me" (1981) Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Relax" (1983) Serious Drinking, "The Revolution Starts at Closing Time" (1983) Chaotic Dischord, "Fuck Religion, Fuck Politics, Fuck the Lot of You" (1983) ABC, "United Kingdom" (1983) Subhumans, "Reality Is Waiting for a Bus" (1983) The Macc Lads, "Buenos Aires" (1983) Osibisa, "Too Much Going On" (1984) Howard Jones, "Don''t Always Look at the Rain" (1984) Vice Squad, "You''ll Never Know" (1984) The Jazz Butcher, "The Jazz Butcher v The Prime Minister" (1985) Conflict, "This Is Not Enough" (1985) The Style Council, "Walls Come Tumbling Down" (1985) Tears for Fears, "Shout" (1985) Television Personalities, "Grocers Daughter" (1986) The Smiths, "Panic" (1986) The Membranes, "Everything''s Brilliant" (1986) Chumbawamba, "Rock ''n'' Roles" (1986) Terminus, "Propaganda War" (1986) Billy Bragg, "The Home Front" (1986) Momus, "I Was a Maoist Intellectual" (1988) Conflict, "Let the Battle Commence" (1988) Easterhouse, "This Country" (1989) The Pogues, "White City" (1989) Mixtape 2: Do Not Push Pineapple The Wombles, "The Wombling Song" (1973) The Wurzels, "The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)" (1976) The Jam, "That''s Entertainment" (1980) The Four Bucketeers, "The Bucket of Water Song" (1980) Jon Pertwee, "Worzel''s Song" (1980) Brown Sauce, "I Wanna Be a Winner" (1981) Alexei Sayle, "Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?" (1982) The Firm, "Arthur Daley (E''s Alright)" (1982) Keith Harris and Orville, "Orville''s Song" (1982) Tracey Ullman, "They Don''t Know" (1983) Kenny Everett, "Snot Rap" (1983) Roland Rat Superstar, "Rat Rapping" (1983) Subhumans, "Rats" (1983) Conflict, "Stop the City" (1984) Black Lace, "Agadoo" (1984) Alvin Stardust, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" (1984) Spitting Image "The Chicken Song" (1986) Claire and Friends, "It''s ''Orrible Being in Love (When You''re 8
"It's not often that reading history books works best with a soundtrack playing simultaneously, but Hugh Hodges has succeeded in evoking both the noises and the feel of a tumultuous 1980s. Proving that pop music is the historian's friend, he has here recovered those who help us best make sense of a scary, precarious, and exciting world."
--Matthew Worley, author of No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture, 1976-1984 "Very interesting and timely indeed."
--Anne Clark, spoken word poet, The Smallest Act of Kindness
The Fascist Groove Thing had many names: Thatcherism, monetarism, neoliberalism, individualism, militarism, nationalism, racism, and anti-unionism for a start. Popular music in Britain responded to this monster either by pretending it didn't exist or by throwing every weapon it could muster at it. This book collects five hundred interesting songs that addressed one alarming feature of Thatcher's Britain or another: the notional mixtape "Whistling in the Dark," for example, consists of songs about Thatcher's war on the trade unions; "Shopkeepers Arise!" comprises songs about consumerism and the rise of so-called popular capitalism. The chapters that follow each mixtape reconstruct the arguments these songs were having with Thatcher's version of Britain (and, sometimes, with each other). The arguments are often polemical, frequently vitriolic, always riotous; they are an alternative account of the decade. This account mattered at the time because popular music said things that other media were unwilling or unable to say: when Thatcher dragged the country into a completely unnecessary war in the South Atlantic, for example, the TV news and the national newspapers dutifully cheered or kept quiet, so popular music provided a crucial national forum for critical dissent. These songs still matter today because they are a documentary record of that dissent. The Fascist Groove Thing's been running the show for forty years now, and we're forgetting that it wasn't inevitable that it should turn out this way.
"It's not often that reading history books works best with a soundtrack playing simultaneously, but Hugh Hodges has succeeded in evoking both the noises and the feel of a tumultuous 1980s. Proving that pop music is the historian's friend, he has here recovered those who help us best make sense of a scary, precarious, and exciting world." --Matthew Worley, author of No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture, 1976-1984 "Very interesting and timely indeed." --Anne Clark, spoken word poet, The Smallest Act of Kindness
Song list by Mixtape Mixtape 1: The Grocer''s Daughter * Sex Pistols, "Anarchy in the UK" (1976) * Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen" (1977) * The Mekons, "Never Been in a Riot" (1978) * David Bowie, "Fashion" (1980) * UB40 "One in Ten" (1981) * The Specials, "Ghost Town" (1981) * Madness, "Grey Day" (1981) * Instant Automatons, "Nothing Ever Happens to Me" (1981) * Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Relax" (1983) * Serious Drinking, "The Revolution Starts at Closing Time" (1983) * Chaotic Dischord, "Fuck Religion, Fuck Politics, Fuck the Lot of You" (1983) * ABC, "United Kingdom" (1983) * Subhumans, "Reality Is Waiting for a Bus" (1983) * The Macc Lads, "Buenos Aires" (1983) * Osibisa, "Too Much Going On" (1984) * Howard Jones, "Don''t Always Look at the Rain" (1984) * Vice Squad, "You''ll Never Know" (1984) * The Jazz Butcher, "The Jazz Butcher v The Prime Minister" (1985) * Conflict, "This Is Not Enough" (1985) * The Style Council, "Walls Come Tumbling Down" (1985) * Tears for Fears, "Shout" (1985) * Television Personalities, "Grocers Daughter" (1986) * The Smiths, "Panic" (1986) * The Membranes, "Everything''s Brilliant" (1986) * Chumbawamba, "Rock ''n'' Roles" (1986) * Terminus, "Propaganda War" (1986) * Billy Bragg, "The Home Front" (1986) * Momus, "I Was a Maoist Intellectual" (1988) * Conflict, "Let the Battle Commence" (1988) * Easterhouse, "This Country" (1989) * The Pogues, "White City" (1989) Mixtape 2: Do Not Push Pineapple * The Wombles, "The Wombling Song" (1973) * The Wurzels, "The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)" (1976) * The Jam, "That''s Entertainment" (1980) * The Four Bucketeers, "The Bucket of Water Song" (1980) * Jon Pertwee, "Worzel''s Song" (1980) * Brown Sauce, "I Wanna Be a Winner" (1981) * Alexei Sayle, "Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?" (1982) * The Firm, "Arthur Daley (E''s Alright)" (1982) * Keith Harris and Orville, "Orville''s Song" (1982) * Tracey Ullman, "They Don''t Know" (1983) * Kenny Everett, "Snot Rap" (1983) * Roland Rat Superstar, "Rat Rapping" (1983) * Subhumans, "Rats" (1983) * Conflict, "Stop the City" (1984) * Black Lace, "Agadoo" (1984) * Alvin Stardust, "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" (1984) * Spitting Image "The Chicken Song" (1986) * Claire and Friends, "It''s ''Orrible Being in Love (When You''re 8
Addresses several major strands of academic discourse onpopular music in an accessible way, making it suitable for both an academic anda general readership. Serves as an introduction to major themes in Britishpolitics in the 1980s, and as introduction to the anti-Thatcher countercultureof the period. Provides a compelling argument that History doesn't belongto the victors, it belongs to the songwriters. The work is thoroughly researched and sourced, as well asbeing written without utilizing technical jargon and would serve as alegitimate resource for students of popular music.
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