(Vocal group, 1977–79) This British punk act featured Poly Styrene (Marion Elliott, vocals), Jak Airport (Jack Stafford, guitar), Paul Dean (bass), Paul ‘B. P.’ Hurding (drums) and Lora Logic (Susan Whitby, saxophone). Poly’s strident voice and pithy songs about consumer culture gave them minor UK hits with ‘The Day The World Turned Day-Glo’, ‘Identity’ and ‘Germ ...
(Vocals, b. 1938) This smooth-voiced performer from West Virginia broke through with ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ from the album Just As I Am (1971). His songs have been recorded by countless artists ranging from Grace Jones’s version of ‘Use Me’ to British pop band Mud’s cover of ‘Lean On Me’. ‘Lovely Day’ has been a Top 10 hit twice for Withers ...
Punk exploded on to the stagnant British music scene in the mid-1970s with short, fast songs, played with maximum energy and often fuelled by angry lyrics. A musical and social phenomenon, punk was a reaction to the indulgence of glam rock bands, and the perceived elitism of the often highly musically proficient musicians who played in the ...
As The Sex Pistols passed through three record companies in the first half of 1977, sacked their songwriting bass player for liking The Beatles and struggled to find venues that would let them play, they became a side-show in the thriving British punk scene now led by The Clash. In London, new punk clubs sprang up and found ...
Early ’76 The Sex Pistols’ First Gigs The Sex Pistols played their first gig at London’s St Martin’s School of Art in November 1975, racing through a batch of Faces and Who numbers plus some of their own, including ‘Pretty Vacant’ and ‘Did You No Wrong’, while Rotten sneered at the audience, calling them ‘f***ing boring’. The pattern ...
January The Sex Pistols Get The Bullet On 6 January 1977 EMI Records terminated its contract with The Sex Pistols, saying it was unable to promote the group’s records ‘in view of the adverse publicity generated over the past two months’. The media furore over the Pistols’ TV appearance six weeks earlier had barely abated and now politicians were weighing ...
The Pistols On Film Polish-American director Lech Kowalski based his punk documentary, D.O.A: A Rite of Passage, around The Sex Pistols’ American 1978 tour, which ended in the band’s dissolution. Footage from the tour was intercut with live performances by other British punk bands, Generation X, The Dead Boys, Rich Kids, X-Ray ...
January The Sex Pistols Head South At the beginning of January 1978 The Sex Pistols flew out to Atlanta, Georgia, for a series of dates in the American South. It all unravelled at Randy’s Rodeo in San Antonio on 8 January in front of 2,000 rowdy Texans: Sid Vicious was suffering from heroin withdrawal and behaving aggressively; Rotten’s ...
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David Bowie
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