Punk it up

PUNK legends The Damned will be bestriding the Fibbers stage tomorrow afternoon, bringing their own unique anarchic sound to York.

The Damned were the first in so many ways: the first British punk act to release a single (New Rose); the first to release an album (damned, Damned, damned); and the first to tour the USA.

Decades on, Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible are still producing the same pure punk rock theatre.

Not surprisingly, they're sold out at Fibbers tomorrow.

So for punk fans disappointed at missing out on the chance to view these living legends in the flesh, we thought we'd revisit the heady days when punk rock threatened to transform British music.

Even the names have a certain magic: The Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, The Clash. Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Rat Scabies.

That brief period in the late Seventies and early Eighties was an exciting time to be around, admits Mike Bennett, York co-author of Anorak Of Love and boss of the Richard III Museum. "It was very anti-establishment!" he recalls.

"Anger is an energy" Johnny Rotten once sang - and punk was about breaking the conformist attitudes and speaking out against authority.

Steve Morrison, who was in a punk band called Cyanide in York, remembers what attracted him to punk music.

"In 1976 if you acted out of line you got arrested, so the element of danger was appealing, once you got into a punk bar, anything goes."

He spoke of punk being an "image and not a reality but it was a brilliant time to be around".

Local haunts such as The Pop Club, The Grob And Duckett, The De Grey Rooms, The Revolution Club and The Munster Bar, which now remains unused, were just a few of the places where the punk movement exploded within the city.

"We would go to play a gig and there were so many people in the club you could hardly fit on the stage.

"By the end of the gig, there wasn't a glass left in the place, they were all smashed on the floor."

Of course, even today there are still your Doc Martin-wearing, safety pin-clad punks, sporting those eye-catching Mohicans.

"You would wear bin liners with your head popping out rather than shirts, anything to make a statement," Mike Bennett remembers.

"The aim was to have your dad walk into your bedroom and say What is this rubbish?'"

The music was bred out of anger and frustration at the time. This anger spoke out to many; some people thought it was just noise but to others it was what they had been waiting for.

There were elements of punk manifesting in bands such as The Velvet Underground, MC5 and The Stooges but the movement really took off with the arrival of the Sex Pistols, who came along in a whirlwind of media attention and thrust anarchy into the public eye.

Songs from this era spoke out about anything from The Dead Kennedy's "lynching their landlord" or The Ramones simply stating "I Don't Care". This attitude made others feel as if they too could say whatever they wanted.

Steve Morrison added that the BBC's drama Life On Mars sums the time up perfectly; it was exciting, manic and there is just nothing like it today.

"It just doesn't happen now, music doesn't create a movement anymore, I'm just glad I was there," he said.

Punk songs are like an angry rant, a burst of aggression, short songs with loud distorted music accompanied by nihilistic lyrics.

Punk also had a lot to do with the DIY revolution, the recordings were unpolished and the guitar playing wasn't especially technical but this made it real and made others feel as if they could also do it.

"Punk was rock 'n' roll by people who didn't have very much skill as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music," said John Holmstrom, founder of Punk magazine.

Unfortunately, with a movement fuelled around something as intense as anger, it could only last so long. The aim with punk was to come, create a riot, and then disappear. But its anarchic stamp has been firmly imprinted in history.

* The Damned are playing a gig at Fibbers on Sunday 15th. Details at www.fibbers.co.uk