Punk & Post-Punk - Volume 2, Issue 3, 2014

This article will explore the divided yet unified nature of contemporary Do-It-Yourself (DIY) punk in Britain. It identifies the emergence of anarcho-punk in the 1980s as being pivotal in the polarization of punk into two distinct camps: politicized and non-politicized punk. Tensions and complexities between the two camps are made clear when long-standing contradictions concerning race, patriotism, gender and sexuality are considered. The article will also reveal tension within the politicized punk camp. Finally, it will show that despite such tensions, participants from both punk camps are unified by certain values, notably the DIY ethic.

Andrew Poppy is a composer, arranger, musician, performer, record producer, writer, creative and artistic director, teacher and mentor. An artist with a unique body of work, his collaborations mix acoustic and electronic sounds with language, visual images and performance disciplines. In the 1970s he studied music at Goldsmiths College, London University, and later attended a summer school with John Cage. He signed to Trevor Horn and Paul Morley’s maverick pop label ZTT in the mid-1980s, making three albums that evade classification. By this time his work as an arranger and orchestrator was sought after by bands and record labels. More recently this has led to remixing projects for other artists. Poppy continues to connect singers and musicians from contemporary classical music and popular culture, as in the current Shiny Floor Shiny Ceiling, a CD and staged performance with videos by Julia Bardsley, as well as Revolution Number Eight Airport for Joseph Beuys, which was presented on the South Bank by Jarvis Cocker. He is the artistic director of a number of ongoing creative projects, including The Sustaining Ensemble, Field Radio Recordings and BARDSLEY_POPPY projects. Andrew Poppy also works in arts education, developing postgraduate courses and modules, and as a mentor and workshop leader. Full CV and works list available at www.andrewpoppy.co.uk.

This article looks at the enduring influence that the ephemera and aesthetics of World War II had on the British punk movement, particularly its impact on impressionable male minds. It maps the popularity of toys, games and magazines during the 1970s and early 1980s and proposes that whilst many punk bands were avowedly anti-war, they retained an awe of the military hardware, scale, personalities and stakes of the conflict. In examining why that might be the case, the author talks to some of those involved in both the production and consumption of cultural materials related to World War II. An attempt is made to navigate the observation that an essential duality was at work. That is, while the overwhelming repudiation and rejection of militarism and conflict in punk was genuine, so too was the impact of the images, residues and vernacular of the war and these became essential formative tools in the creative and intellectual discourse of that generation. The first part of the article will look at the prevalence of World War II-based imagery, the second at how that impacted on the punk movement in terms of lyrics, artwork and attitudes. That phenomenon is examined in relation to British identity, class identity, political identity and male identity, though these have not been structured as separate lines of enquiry due to the extensive degree of overlap.

The City is Ablaze! The Story of a Post-Punk Popzine, 1984–1994, Karren Ablaze! (2013) Leeds: Mittens On Publishing, 320 pp., ISBN: 9780957427006, p/bk, £25