Splash one

Songs From The Kitchen Sink

2009-12-04T05:30:00.000-08:00

Songs From The Kitchen Sink

Wednesday saw the first micro event organised by Splash One and Narc scribe Ewan McIntyre.

The idea for Songs From The Kitchen Sink came to me last year as a shameless excuse to indulge in twin passions of 1960's British Kitchen Sink Cinema and 1980's Fuzzy Guitar music (some early 90's shoegaze thrown in for good measure) from independent labels such as 4AD, Cherry Red, Heavenly, Creation, Factory, Rough Trade, Sarah.

However I had been too busy with other projects to put anything together then the opportunity to host an after show party for New York shambling indie poppers The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart arrived - too good to pass up.

So the first 'Kitchen Sink' event played out like this...

Fist off BIG SORRY to PopKlub who were meant to DJ but the lack of CD decks in the head of steam mean they had to pull out.

As well as myself and Ewan, Peggy and Kurt from the Pains Of Being Pure At played a few tunes. So extra big thanks to the band.

The following records were played entirely on original pressings of 12", 7" and LP.

Deluxe - Lush

Mercy Seat - Ultra Vivid Scene

Iceblink Luck – Cocteau Twins

Jack - Moose

Brassneck - The Wedding Present

Drive Blind - Ride

Celeste – The Telescopes

Velocity Girl – Primal Scream

Falling and Laughing – Orange Juice

The Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set

In The Rain - The June Brides

Sick Of It - The Primitives

Lola - Cud

Pearl - Chapterhouse

Catholic Block – Sonic Youth

Outdoor Miner – Wire

Lichtenstien Painting - Television Personalities

Keep It Out Of My Face – Mudhoney

Destroy The Heart – The House Of Love

Felicity – The Wedding Present

Why Does it Rain - Weather prophets

Primitive Painters - Felt

I dont Know Why I Love You - House Of Love

Staring at The Sun - Ultra Vivid Scene

Sidewalking - Jesus & Mary Chain

Other band's played included.. Catherine Wheel, The Sea Urchins, The Times, New Order and Teenage Fanclub.

While posters and flyers for the evening included images from...

Billy Liar

Twisterella - Blly Liar

Twisterella - Ride

And...

Room At The Top

DRAGNET with MARK ALGAR - SET LIST

2009-12-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

BIG THANKS to everyone who came down to Dragnet last Sat, we had another blinding session. CHEERS AGAIN.

After a solid month of residents keeping the Dragnet fires burning every Sat @ the Cut we thought it was about time we invited a few friends to pitch in with the music, dancing, love and laughter.

So... first up to join us behind the decks was

Mark Algar. (Tourist/Thoughts On love & Smoking)

Someone who probably needed no introduction, a right regular ace face on Tyneside's club scene for as far back as I can remember, and thats a long time. I recall first meeting Mark in the infamous Riverside just after he had played a blinding set.

Here's a little bit of bumfff about the man that may shed some light to anybody not familiar with local legend.

Since starting out in the early 90's he's played alongside heavy hitters such as...

Andrew Weatherall,
Ewan Pearson,
David Holmes,
Maurice Fulton,
Shit Robot,
Dave Clark,
JD Twitch,
Junior Boys,
Vitalic,
The Horrors

as well as cut his teeth over the years at some of the countries seminal clubs such as The 333, The T-Bar, The Bitter Suite, Club UK, The Amersham Arms, Full Circle, Hoxton Bar & Grill, The Leadmill in Sheffield, The Orbit in Leeds, Bristols Thelka and Newcastles much missed Riverside Club. With influences as diverse as dub disco, Ze records, New york Punk funk, DFA Records and heavyweight Berlin Techno as well as the typically twisted British sounds of Trevor Jacksons now defunct 'Output Records', Andy Blakes 'Dissident' imprint, Nathan Gregory Wilkins 'History Clock' label, and of course the national treasure that was 'Boys Own Records'.

As well as DJing Mark finds time to organize and write for two of the North East's much loved Blogs - Tourist & Thoughts On Love and Smoking.

THESE ARE SOME OF THE TRACKS THAT MARK PLAYED ON SATURDAY..

Shortwave Set - No Social (Optimo Remix)

Heartbreak - Akin To Dancing (The Horrors Remix)

Suzanne Vega - Love Made Real (Chalk Hill Edit)

The Phenomenal Hanclap Band - 15 to 20 (The Glimmers Remix)

Chromeo - You're So Gangsta (Playgroup Remix)

Ron Rogers - Ya Ya

LCD Soundsystem - Bye Bye Bayou (Ernold Sane Re-Edit)

Mock N' Toof - Digit 2

Radiohead - Idioteque (Bootleg)

The Presets - Talk Like That (Optimo Remix)

The Andrew Allsgood Experience - Macho Wizard

The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows (Dub Disco Edit Of The Edit)

Divine - Native Love (Edit)

Scotty Coats & Wes The Mes - Double Fisted (Prins Thomas Disko Mikss)

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Heres a few of them if you fancy a listen...

Shortwave Set - No Social (Optimo Remix)

Chromeo - You're So Gangsta (Playgroup Remix)

LCD Soundsystem - Bye Bye Bayou (Ernold Sane Re-Edit)

And here's a few related bit's...

Kid Congo did it again.

2009-11-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

Right. Just got back from the Kid Congo Powers gig at the Cluny.

WOW. The Kid did it again. All the uber cool chops and camped up suss we've come to know and love from this true legend. Yep that's right Legend, an over used word in describing musicians for sure but hell when you've spent your life playing with three of the greatest front men of all time - Lux Interior, Jeffery Pierce and Nick Cave - you must have done something right. No one can tell me its not a justified description for someone who was in not only one LEGENDARY band but three - The Cramps, The Gun Club and Nick Caves Bad Seed's.

These days Kid Congo is hipper than ever with his own band The Pink Monkey Birds, who's charming, sexy mix of 50's Rockabilly, 60's Garage Trash, 70's Vegas Lounge Muzak, 80's Post Punk all put together with an authentic Hispanic twist - serves up some serious cool medicine both on record and live.

Tonight the band came out dressed uniformally in Matador outfits - drop dead cool, the perfect look for a Hispanic garage band rocking the sex beat.

And rock the Sex Beat they did, as alongside tracks from Pink Monkey Bird albums Kid Congo took us on an exhilarating journey through his past and blasted out The Gun Club classic 'Sex Beat' in his own slinky style. Another treat included a link Wray style version of The Cramps stormer Goo Goo Muck. It's fair to say that the whole gig came over like a tribute to Kid Congo's fallen comrade Lux Interior. Paying his respects inbetween songs with dedications to the late great shaman of voodoo beat rock n roll.

Kid Congo's voodoo mojo however was far from dead tonight, as he tapped into the source - right into the well of voodoo juice, so that for a few hours at least us mere northern Brits could feel the magic of that goo goo muck drenched underbelly Americana.

The band were incredible, giving Kid Congo just the right platform to do this thing.

Mesmerising, enchanting, groovy, rocking and above all original.

Shame on those who didn't make it, hope to see you there when the Kid next rolls into town. Cant wait.

Heres some footage of KID CONGO playing with The Cramps...

And some footage of KID CONGO playing with Nick Cave..

He's not doing anything in this one but being there and being cool..

And some fantastic Gun Club footage..

THESE NEW PURITANS - HIDDEN

2009-11-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

THESE NEW PURITANS.

Hit Newcastle Friday 5th Jan. 2010.

One of the most interesting and musically exciting British bands to emerge in the last few years, These New Puritans unleashed their debut album 'Beat Pyramid' in 2008, however despite gaining a fair amount of critical acclaim they didn't break above the radar as far / high as they deserved. While Beat Pyramid was certainly one of Jukebox/Splash Ones albums of that year, their forthcoming album looks set to be the record that pushes them into the national conscious.

TNPS are a four piece from Southend On Sea (with Splash Ones love of British Sea Side towns this just endeared them to us that whole lot more) who come on like a gang of well read post punk junkies with a Wu Tang Clan obsession. It's a bizarre filter for sure but that's why we love them.

Artrocker Magazine has described TNPS as sounding like "Sheffield and Berlin synths, '90s alt rock Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo drones; Underworld beats, and all in the most contemporary of contexts," while in a review of Beat Pyramid, Vice Magazine said "Sharp, strange and enchanting, there aren't many bands around like These New Puritans."

Enchanting is definitely a word to describe TNPS, but maybe desingned and controlled noisy enchantment would be a better description, or tailored magik even.

Their single ELVIS was a smash at Jukebox, played on heavy rotation for about a year, the Band also played live at the club captivating the crowd with that very same special brew of noisy (but refined and controlled) enchantment.

So it is with huge excitement that we anticipate the bands return to the Jukebox stage - THESE NEW PURITANS PLAY JUKEBOX ON FRIDAY 5TH OF FEBUARY 2010.

Another crucial release that we have hammered is the Wu Tang influenced, 'Swords Of Truth'.

The bastard upstart urchin off spring of Mark E Smith & The Fall, some have derided the band for that, but fuck that, if I want to see any new band taking influence from another band and taking that influence somewhere new, a place of their own then I want to see it done with The Fall. Mark E Smith may moan about Fall copy bands but he moans about everything, this band are special, and stand above the pale Fall apeing underachiever's of indie land.

They look good too, which is important.

Splash One cant wait for HIDDEN to drop from the sky,

Here's a few factoids for anyone new to the band.

• The Band have toured with Crystal Castles, British Sea Power, The Kills, Blood Red Shoes and The Klaxons.

• have been involved with fashion designer Hedi Slimane, having recorded the song ("Navigate, Navigate") for the Dior Homme Show 2007.

• They were part of the Southend scene that gave birth to The Horrors, known as the 'Experimental Circle Club' involved in the semi legendary 'Junk Club' nights - responsible for popularising such bands as Neils Children, The Violets, XX Teens, No Bra, and most of course The Horrors themselves. It should be noted that Jack Barnett performed solo on the first ECC night on 18 November 2006.

• New album Hidden has been mixed by Dave Cooly who has worked with underground Hip Hop giants J Dilla and MF DOOM.

• Press release states that the sound of Hidden will include..."Six-foot Japanese Taiko drums, a thirteen piece brass and woodwind ensemble, sub-heavy beats, prepared piano, a children's choir and Foley recording techniques".

• These New Puritans are signed to the very fine Domino records.

THESE NEW PURITANS PLAY JUKEBOX ON FRIDAY 5TH OF FEBUARY 2010.

An evening with Malcolm McLaren

2009-11-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Musical Paintings:

An Evening with Malcolm McLaren

I was buzzing to be asked to DJ at the launch party of the BALTIC's current exhibition of Malcolm McLaren's latest 'Musical Painting' titled 'Shallow'.

As it meant I got to attend to the 'Evening with Malcolm McLaren' event which was a two hour film preview and talk session with Malcolm himself - introduced by Michael Bracewell (who's extensive Roxy Music / Geordie Pop art book Re Make Remodel - I highly recomend).

The film that Malcolm showed and discussed was his brand new piece about Paris. In which he has used old discarded Parisian advertising commercials that had previously been thought trash, and by focusing attention on the fact that many of these throw away pop culture artifacts were made by many of Europe's great artists (undercover - for the cash while starting out) such as Max Ernst, re examines the nature and depth of the films/ad's - and elevates them from trash to art. On top of these gem's of unearthed past trash McLaren has inserted a soundtrack made up of tracks from his 1994 'Paris' album. The whole affair amounts to one giant love letter to Paris.

This is not the same film as the one that is on show to the public at the Baltic at the moment. The film that the Baltic has on display is a work titled 'Shallow' which is a series of so called musical paintings that are actually old amateur porn movies from the 50's and 60's that have been slowed down to an absurd often almost static pace, on top of which a collaged soundtrack of pop music moments and elements from McLaren's own musical career jar in a juxtaposing sequence of audio visual cultural 'ruins'.

Some of the tracks like the one I've included here, are clever musical edits/puns, the title of this one alone this one is fantastic - LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER / LOVE WILL TEAR US APART

Baltic themselves say..

This collection of musical paintings - portraits of people thinking, desiring, wanting, wishing, imagining having sex, have been dug out of the ruins of pop culture: pornographic films and pop music. McLaren has likened them to a map of feelings that navigate both the ‘look of music’ and the ‘sound of fashion’. Shallow has been shown to critical acclaim in Art Basel, London’s Royal Academy and in Times Square, New York.

Both the Paris film (plus post viewing Q & A) and the Shallow film were mesmerising delights.

And as a life long fan of Mclaren's mischievous manner it was also a pleasure to meet him.

Even for those who cant stand the man it's hard to argue against the sheer weight and importance of his greatest achievements. His influence spreads far and wide, the seed he sowed with the invention of British punk and the Sex pistols had a direct and lasting effect on many aspects of UK (and therefore global) music and fashion culture that we take for granted today.

His influence on Manchester alone is colossal, forever influencing Tony Wilson who freely admitted the debt to Malcolm while transforming the city from the grey and desolate post industrial landscape of the 1970's into the rejuvenated Northwestern metropolis of today.

While Factory records and it's bands would simply not have existed without Malcolm McLaren.

Like wise Creation records Alan McGee has always acknowledged his and his labels debt to McLaren. No Malcolm McLaren mean no Primal Scream, Jesus & Mary Chain and certainly no Oasis.

(though that may not be a good thing).

Ok so we wont blame Malcolm for the dreary dull grey spot that is Oasis, but here's a quick list of some of his achievements.

• Studied at both Goldsmiths and Central St Martins.

• Opened some of London's most forward thinking, conceptual and cutting edge fashion boutiques with shops such as Let It Rock, Too Fast To Live, Too Young Too Die, World End, Sex, Seditionaries, World End, Nostalgia Of Mud.

• Through his 50's Rock N Roll revival fetish shop Let It Rock he supplied garments for the film 'That'll Be The Day' - one of British youth cinemas true classics.

• 12 year design partnership with Vivian Westwood

• His obsession with the Situationist's would not only lead to the creation of the Sex Pistols but also inspire Tony Wilson to create Factory Records and... build the worlds most famous club - the Hacienda. 'The Hacienda must be built' being a situationist slogan.

• Managing the New York Dolls at the sticky end of their career in the mid 70's. Dressing them up in Red Patent leather as would be Communist Transvestites. Although Shocking at the time the stunt didn't quite come off, how ever looking at it in retrospect it was an act of genius, that surely inspired not only the Sex Pistols Anarchy shtick but also the Clash's 'Red Army Faction' Rebel chic.

• SEX PISTOLS !!!

• Turned to old friend and fellow Situationist fan boy Jamie Reid to create the graphic imagery for the Pistols. Thereby creating some of the most successful and powerful imagery in pop culture. The 7" single sleeve for God Save the Queen being a stirring example.

• The Great Rock n Roll Swindle - last word on media manipulation and corporate hi jacking of 'youth' ideas, and a thrilling ride on the greatest rollercoaster in the fairground of popular culture. Also - one hell of an affecting and effective prank.

• Inspired by the Sex Pistols spark, McLaren's assistant Bernie Rhodes would manage and mastermind The Clash, and later work with The Specials and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

• Masterminded the subversive bubblegum pop sensation that was Bow Wow Wow. Causing offense by placing a nude 14 year old Annabella Lwin at the forefort of the band. Also an early member of Bow Wow Wow - and taking notes was Boy George.

• McLaren was the force behind pushing the 'Burundi Beat sound' into the music world - an African Tribal beat that was taken up as the signature sound by both Adam & The Ants and Bow Wow Wow. McLaren would stay with African music, exploring many south African themes on his Duck Rock album which managed to make word music cutting edge in a pop format - years before the 'World Music' boom of the late 80's

• With his Duck Rock/Global/Hip Hop project he prove himself again one of the great pioneers of modern music by getting into NY hip hop on the ground level and importing some of that dynamite back to Britain via the Buffalo Girls track and video. Trevor Horn produced the music. Breathtaking. Bang on the money, Right on the pulse.

• For many in the UK the Buffalo Girls video was their first full and proper introduction to the might of HIP HOP culture. Here McLaren brings Rap, Electro, Breakdancing, Graffiti & Scratching together - a truly life changing moment for many. And just as influential as his invention of Punk some years earlier.

• From the incredible Duck Rock album came DOUBLE DUTCH using South African high Life sounds and NY Rap style to breathtaking effect. The video is a joyous celebration of NY street culture. LOVE IT.

• McLaren on a remix tip - Great DUB EDIT of Double Dutch.

• As well as merging Hip Hop with South African music McLaren also headed into the mountains of West Virginia to pilage some square dancing elements, with truly bizzare results... now thats Punk!

• The Duck Rock album sleeve was designed by NY artist Keith Haring who also takes up an important space in global pop culture.

• The musical and cultural alchemy continued with the meeting of Opera and Electronica - 'Madam Butterfly' - the number 13 UK hit lead to producer Stephen Hague becoming much sought after - and going on to produce outstanding records by New Order and Pet Shop Boys. The track itself is a fine example of the sample/sound collage heavy boundary smashing nature of new music in the late 80's.

• Letting no one catch a breath or ever second guess him Malcolm served up his

'Waltz Darling' project with which he explored the NY vogue phenomenon (prior to Madonna) to a pumping Disco Funk soundtrack including musicians such as Bootsy Collins, the blueprint of this album would be taken on by De-Lite who had their own Boosty Collins featuring Disco Funk smash a few years later..

• Capturing the romantic spirit of Paris with his concept album 'Paris' featuring Parisian legends such as Francoise Hardy and Catherine Deneuve. Musically mixing late night Parisian Jazz elements with a Serge Gainsbourg influence.

• Has worked on Hip Hop tracks with true Rap legends such as De La Soul, KRS One and Rakim.

• Running for Mayor of London. WTF??

• Mclaren and Westwood's son Jospeh Ferdinand Corre is the mastermind behind lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.

• Produced the fantastic and magical TV film 'The Ghost Of Oxford Street' for Channel 4 in 1991, telling the thrilling historic tale of London's Oxford St in a format similar to his Rock & Roll Swindle. The film featured musicians such as Happy Mondays, Tom Jones, Kirsty MacColl and Sinead O'Connor.

• As early as 2003 he wrote an article called '8-Bit Punk' which championed the 8-Bit music sound.

• Was a producer of the acclaimed film documentary 'Fast Food Nation'

• Contributed this great 'Zombie's sampling 'track to the Kill Bill soundtrack.

• Staying on top of his game by turning to the artworld and creating the fantastic Musical Paintings works with such inspired artists as Jim Lambie.

http://www.balticmill.com/whatsOn/present/ExhibitionDetail.php?exhibID=134

TRAGIC NEWS - R.I.P Jerry Fuchs.

2009-11-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

TRAGIC NEWS

We were shocked and deeply saddened to hear the tragic news of the great drummer Jerry Fuchs death.

Jerry Fuchs the 34 year old drummer with several of NYC's finest bands including !!! and the Juan Maclean (as well as Maserati and Turning Machine) died on Saturday night after a fall down a Brooklyn elevator shaft.

The New York post reported that Fuchs was attending a benefit party in Williamsburg when he and a friend became stuck in an elevator between floors. The two opened the elevator doors and attempted to jump across the elevator shaft to the nearest floor. The friend made it; Fuchs didn't.

In a post on his website, Juan MacLean writes, "Jerry was one of my best and most loyal friends. He was hands-down the best drummer I have ever played with or seen for that matter. Jerry was with me from the start of The Juan MacLean, and we had countless adventures together all over the world. He was utterly sincere and fiercely loyal. During a particularly difficult time, while backstage in a club in Chicago, Jerry told me "Juan, I will follow you to the end of the earth and I will always be there for you." That was Jerry, the greatest drummer in the world, the greatest friend you could ever have."

A post on the Maserati website reads, "We are humbled to have been able to create music with you for all these years, Jerry. You will be missed more than words can express. We love you, bro."

As for Splash one, well - I personally saw Jerry play drums several time's and his playing was a truly magnificent, life affirming and always wonderfully energising experience.

So then Splash One, Jukebox & Dragnet pay tribute to Jerry Fuchs.

Please take time to watch all of these incredible clips....

Jerry - THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

Weatherall - London Belongs To Me

2009-11-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/2116/

Right, it's no secret how much I respect Andrew Weatherall.

It's also no secret that my two favourite British bands of all time are The Clash and The Pogues, so I was grinning like a Cheshire cat when Weatherall featured both in a recent radio broadcast about 'His London' - whats more he chose 'Rainy night in Soho' surely one of the most beautiful and affecting songs ever put on wax.

The full track listing....

Primal Scream - Loaded - Creation

Andrew Weatherall - A Pox On The Pioneers - Rotters Golf Club

The Clash - Tommy Gun - CBS

The Pogues - Rainy Night In Soho - Warner Music

Joyce Sims - All And All - Sleeping Bag

Dave Davani Four - Top Of The Pops - Aces

Mose Allison - I Love The Life I Live - Columbia

Wee Willie Harris - Rockin' At The 2 I's - Decca

Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line - Decca

Andrew Weatherall - Fail We May, Sail We Must - Rotters Golf Club

The Sabres Of Paradise - Wilmot - Warp Records

Psychedelic Furs - We Love You - Columbia

Killing Joke - Bloodsport - EG Records

Chris And Cosey - October Love Song - Rough Trade

Primal Scream - I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have - Essential

Manfred Man - Just For Me - RPM

Inbetween these superb choice selections He takes us on an informative personal journey round the London of his youth, pointing out places of musical importance on the way.

Absolutely essential listening. Check it here....

http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/2116/

DRAGNET - UP AND AWAY

2009-11-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

Right I'll start by saying thanks to everyone who came down to the first and second Dragnet nights at Newcastle's new club space theCUT. I cant believe how good these two sessions have been (both have exceeded my expectations), the crowd has been amazing and a refreshingly positive, upbeat and 'fun' atmosphere filled the air each week.

We (Dragnet) couldn't ask for more.

So then to the music. Thrown together like disco confetti in an anarchistic fashion. The space giving us the opportunity to play what we genuinely LOVE, be it big hits, rare tracks, lost gem's or anthems, and encompassing a riot of sounds and styles (defiantly anti-purist) from lush Philly soul to abrasive mutant disco, from original Harlem ghetto funk to Manchester punk funk, from Krautrock to Italo disco, from obscure post punk B-sides to 'Top of the Pops' synth pop, from hi NRG to EBM, from icy cold wave to sun-drenched Balearica and on and on. Some have said they didn't know the music and asked for playlist's, others have said we played too many pop hits - and yeah we hold our hands up 'guilty' we kept it unashamedly POP for the first few sessions, horses for courses, but it'll be different every session and we look forward to digging deeper.

So here's our pick of (some of) the tracks that got played over the first two sessions.

In no order...

Iggy Pop - Nightclubbing

The first song ever played at Dragnet had to be this. Iggy in Berlin soaking up the clubs.

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Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette

Grace covers the Normal to stunning effect.

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Jah Wobble & Holger Czukay

- How Much are they?

Wobble meets Can with sublime results.

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Cabaret Voltaire - Just Fascination

Sheffield industrial avant electro guru's - go pop, almost.

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The Droids - The Force

Star Wars influenced computer disco.

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Charlie - Spacer Woman

The ever popular Italo track

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Certain Ratio - Shack up

Perhaps the most well know tune by Manchester's finest post punk funker's, Shack up always gets the party started.

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Primal Scream - Uptown (Andy Weatherall mix)

Top hole remix of the finest track on the Screams last album, the band capture that late 70's Rolling Stones at Studio 54 feel while Weatherall works his modern day disco magic to duby dancefloor effect.

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Blamange - Living On The Ceiling

Taking it back to 82 with this classic slice of far eastern tinged post punk disco.

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Depeche Mode - People Are People

Depeche Mode in their industrial meets pop phase. Fantastic.

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Give Me Every Little Thing - Juan Maclean

Another great track by these DFA signed disco punker's. Funk in abundance.

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Emperor Machine - You Clapper

Best band of the last 4 years?

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Liquid Liquid - Optimo.

NY punk Funk classic that needs no introduction. Never fails.

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Haircut 100 - Favourite Shirts (boy meets girl) 12" version.

Ahhh unashamed pop music, when pop could be tight and loose, driving and funky all at the same time.

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Units - High pressure days

Fabulous track by much overlooked post punk group. Reciently re issued with a wealth of great remixes on Headman's Relish label.

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James White - Contort Yourself

Another out and out heavy hitter of the ze records / no wave into punk funk era.

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Gang Of Four - Damaged Goods

Proper Northern Punk Funk. Essential.

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Au Pairs - Were So Cool

... and more Proper Northern Punk Funk. Equally Essential

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Padded Cell - Word Of Mouth

modern post punk gem. Lovely.

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Shriekback - My Spine is the Bassline

Essential post punk disco nugget.

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Kano - It's A War

Funk infected Italo battle sounds.

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In Flagranti - Business Acumen

We're still loving this record.

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The Clash - Mustapha Dance

The bands own NYC style early hip hop/punk funk re mix of Rock the Casbah - which managed to get on WBLS (NY's most cutting edge dance station at the time) as a genuine NY dance track, not bad for a bunch of white london punks.

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Headman - On and On

Addictive, Punk Funk track with massive bassline.

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Impedance - Tainted love

Dirty cover version of a dirty cover version.

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Bronski Beat - Smalltown boy

Another unashamed pop smash.

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Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round

The pop smashes keep coming but this time in the form of a rather twisted hi NRG lite production by Stock Aitken and Watermen - bizare but brilliant.

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Black Strobe - Me & Madonna.

Still lethal after all this time.

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Telex - Moscow Discow

Legendary French electro/disco pop.

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LCD Soundsystem - Disco Infiltrator

While waiting for the new album to drop, we dug this out and gave it a dust down... needless to say it went off.

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Yello - Bostich

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everybody...

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Human League - Sound of the Crowd

Everybody's second favourite sheffield band (after the Cabs of course).

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Fred Wesley - Blow Your Head

FUNK BOMB.

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War - Low Rider

ANOTHER FUNK BOMB

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Machine - There But For The grace of god Go I

NY disco perfection.

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The Doors - Peace Frog

Jim and co get funky.

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Walter Murphy - A 5th of Beethoven

Disco Classical hybrid, novel but irresistable.

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Rob Base and EZ rock - It Takes Two.

Juggernaut Hip House.

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Divine - Shake It Up

Dragnets favourite dog shit eating overweight tranny. come on everybody...

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Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant

British EBM monster, a truly powerful and life enhancing record.

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Front 242 - Headhunter

Another anthem.

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Depeche Mode - Photographic

Early Mode Banger.

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Well thats just a few of the ones I could fine you tube footage for.

RIP - Liam Maher - Flowered Up

2009-10-21T07:41:00.001-07:00

DARK SIDE OF THE SPOON

Getting the train back today from last nights Bad Lieutenant gig in Brighton I was gutted to read the text that came through informing me that Liam Maher one time front man with Acid House Rockers Flowered up had died. GUTTED.

I first came across Flowered Up in 1990 as The NME/Melody Maker both had the band on their front covers before they had even released a note of music! Causing shock-waves in the capital and hailing them as London's answer to Manchester's Happy Mondays. No pale Mondays imitation though, it was obvious from the start that Flowered up had their own equally powerful music and their own voice to mouth off about their own experiences with.

Essentially a bunch of Camden housing estate kids who may have been a snotty working class garage/punk band in any other era but here during the hight of Acid House (the band had formed in 89) and the coming wave of rave (as their working class peers turned to making House and Techno in their bedrooms) the F Up chaps stuck with the guitars but decided to mix the DIY punk ethics with the mood, groove and swagger of the dance scene. Spured on by the explosion of working class guitar bands doing like wise in the North of England it was not long before F UP were making waves. On hearing the music for the fist time what marked them out as different to the Northern bands was F Ups total embracing of their Laaaandon Cockerneee forefathers, the direct influence of both The Clash and Ian Dury & The Blockheads could be heavily felt and heard in the grooves of F Ups records. Both of these bands had injected their London-centric Pub/Punk rock with large doses of Soul, Funk, Reggae and Disco, Flowered Up were very much part of this linage as they added House and Hip Hop to the Punky mix. It's also worth noting that F UP were doing the pre chav Landaan Boy thing years before Blur faked it and The Streets milked it.

My favourite year in my lifetime was 1990 (it's actually a toss up between 89 and 90). For many reasons. End of the 80's, end of Thatcherism, end of the cold war, Nelson Mandela released from prison, all of these things seemed to signify that the times truly were a changin' and there was a global positivity in the air that seemed to usher in the dawning of a new musical era.

In the great summer of 1990 I remember reading the press and seeing the band's video for debut single It's on, the video alone was enough to reel me in, bizare baggy antics with the bands even more insane answer to Bez - Barry Mooncult - dancing round like a lunatic with a giant flower on his head. Of course I rushed out and bought the record, and the cool alternative kids a few years older than me at school who were the bench mark and radar for new sounds and styles loved the band. I remember being gutted that I couldn't go and see the band when they played Newcastle Riverside with their Bez like mascot- lunatic in green tights Barry Mooncult. So I bought the live VHS video some months later, a gig filmed at PSV club in Moss side Manchester as suitably raw a venue as any for the band to be seen creating their ruff neck street funkadelia.

When i formed my own band a few years later, the Influence of Flowered Up loomed large, mostly I will admit on my own rather inept vocal style of lazy punk funky drawwwwwl, copped in part from Liam, god rest his soul.

It always pisses me off when Flowered Up are mentioned that most people only seem to know Weekender - from its on going shelf life as post club house party entertainment on VHS and now DVD..

Heres a brief guide to Flowered Up.

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IT'S ON

Having been sucked into the post acid indie world I had been blown away by St Etienne's cover of the Neil Young classic 'Only love Will Break Your Heart' which was the second release on the new post acid indie pop label Heavenly Records. F Up's debut single 'It's On' would be the third release on Heavenly. Soon the label could do no wrong. The song it self is a low slung baggy groove which starts off with a perfect set of Balearic pan pipes before Liam's typically loose lipped stoned ramble (about big french ones) begins to tease the track out as the drums and bass kick in and guitar swells the sound into a gorgeous and groovy psychedelic soup. Even to (my) ears that had been primed by Happy Mondays this sounded like nothing else ever heard.

It used to send shivers up my spine every time. It still does. I bloody love this record, more than i could ever explain here. I bought the 12" with a fantastic large purple Flower logo, the B-side contained another version of It's On - a more Baggified remix titled 'It's On - Sonia' with its infectious loping beat it provided the type of track that would sit well alongside the likes of Andrew Weatherall and Paul Oakenfold's Indie Dance mixes that were smashing dancefloors across the nation.

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PHOBIA.

The next F Up single was Phobia, a loose limed funk (y) workout that came on like a London version of Happy Mondays classic track Performance. Released as the 7th single on Heavenly and housed in a much darker paranoid hand drawn sleeve. Phobia proved again that guitarist Joe Maher and Bassist Andy Jackson had the chops to keep up with the Northern bands, not to mention the attitude evoking funky drumming and spooky keyboards of John Tovey and Tim Dorney. With his band providing the essential twisted 'E' Funk Liam was free to ramble at will in his own charming and captivating style. Which again reeled us all in. B-Sides included Flapping - an upbeat and frantic track with a fitting title, while the 'Paranoid Mix' of Phobia provided the much sought after extra dance factor - with it's closing vocal sample stating "That last one made Iggy Pop sound like the Arch Bishop Of Canterbury didn't it?". Brilliant.

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TAKE IT

After 2 top 40 singles F Up sadly left Heavenly and signed to London records and released the stunning 3rd single which featured lyrics written by the late great Joe Strummer, the single is both a steal and a nod from and to the greatness of The Clash. Joe had sung the lyrics sat at a piano in the 1979 Clash film Rude Boy, and they had now been appropriated by these Camden sons of the Clash - Flowered up true 'ecstasy rude boys' . This was the perfect torch passing moment from a past master to the new kids on the block - and Strummer was a fan of the band. The Clash connection was further cemented by occasional appearences with F Up of Clash drummer Topper Heddon on additional percussion.

The track it self was F Up's most accomplished, crafted and impressive release to date, energetic up beat and probably the last word in uptight punk meets loose fit baggy noise. Glorious. It's not an exaggeration to say that at the time this record really blew my mind, its was the closest I could ever possibly come (during that era) to feeling what it must have felt like in the late 70's when the Clash were releasing all those life changing singles. Even after 18 years this record still takes my breath away.

B-side contains the absolute lost F Up classic 'I'll be your Dog' which was a monster on the dancefloor. All Brain popping bongos and trippy samples over a killer groove while Liam in what is my all out favourite of his vocal performances - reaches genius status as he puts a 100% 'punk rock nasty sex pistol couldn't give a fuck' vocal over what would otherwise be a pretty uplifting 'nice' indie dance track. With samples from Apocalypse Now ("I love the small of napalm in the morning") this track is always near the top of any F Up best of list.

I remember seeing this footage on SNUB TV and being more than a little excited for the release of the track.

AND HERE JOE STRUMMER SINGS 'TAKE IT' IN RUDE BOY...

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A LIFE WITH BRIAN.

unfortunately when it came to recording their debut album for London something was lost in translation, maybe it was rushed or they were under pressure to deliver, whatever the reason the bands debut album did not match the same standard as their stunning run of singles thus far, neither did it equal or capture their undoubtedly fantastic and shamlessly shambolic live vibe/sound.

Not as bad an album as many have it pegged as, it suffered at the hands of the merciless press at the time who were already growing tired of anything associated with 'Baggy'.

Personally I still dig the record and know many that do, despite also knowing the band could have done better. But this is the record they made and this is the record that I love.

Housed in a great sleeve that sees the band as a kind of Rave era Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. That also manages to conjure up a Pythonesque image fitting the albums title.

The album kicks of with a smokey tropical storm of overwrought guitar and percussion before lunging into the sublime groove of Sunshine. Play this into back to back with that of the Stone Roses Second Coming (released some 4 years later) and the similarity is spooky.

Other standout tracks include Hysterically blue and Doris is A Little bit Partial. The Bands nu-punk credentials were also added to via additional photos on the inside sleeve by Sex pistols/PIL photographer Dennis Morris.

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EGG RUSH

A re-released version of 'It's on' was put out as a double A side with Egg Rush, I cant actually remember if this was just before or just after the album, but whatever it didn't elevate the band to the new heights it was hoped. Egg rush however aint the stinker it's been painted as, it is in fact the direct precursor to Weekender, in that its is the bands most 'Housey' non remix track to date. It shares many similarities with Weekender (a Boys Own - Weatherall / Farley type sound), and perhaps points towards the direction of the (never to be recorded) second album, being as it is the most progressive and fresh sounding track on the record.

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WEEKENDER

So then 1992 and already dropped from London - the band found themselves back in the loving arms of Heavenly where the DIY ethic proved the right path all along. Weekender and it's promo video (directed by Wiz) was the Quadrophenia of the E Generation in both sound and visual form.

The Short film status promo with its nods to the E generations London roots in the 60's Mod culture of fast clothes, all night dancing and pills was referenced via a sample from the Quadrophenia movie, the appearance of a Scooter the live for the weekend (weekend starts here - Ready Steady Go) working class subject matter and a similar cinematic style to the former film. Fast becoming a firm cult favourite when released on VHS video - many a post rave house party was soundtracked by the popping of the Weekender film into the video machine.

The track itself is an epic that stands out as one of the main achievements of the Baggy/Madchester/Indie Dance era. In fact such a genius record coming at the tail end of the baggy scene - (when most other bands were poor bandwagon jumping imitations) served more as a full stop on the era. A complete sonic journey at 13 minutes long Weekender skillfully moves through different musical genres from psychedelic indie pop to house then to dub and rock with ease. Held aloft as a stirling comeback by an un-expecting and shocked music press the record was a critical success that has gained more and more respect for its balls, originality and importance with each passing year.

Yet again the bands punk attitude and roots are pointed to here via 2 Dennis Morris photographs - the front sleeve of the 12" single features a photograph of a young female Sex Pistols fan from a Pistols gig in Las Vegas, she is dressed in a plastic Tesco carrier bag, leather dog collar and razor blade bet, in her hand she holds a gig ticket over which the words Flowered up have been scrawled. The back of the sleeve features a shot of a totally trashed hotel room including the essential rock cliche - smashed TV. The photo is in fact a shot of a hotel room and carnage belonging to one - Sid Vicious.

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WEATHERALL'S WEEKENDER

It was inevitable that with the Heavenly/Boys Own connections the mighty Weatherall would get his magik hands on the band at some stage. So it was that the king of indie dance (although I'm sure he would hate the title) produced two of the essential remixes of the era, which were released on a second separate 12" single. Titled Weatherall's Weekender (Audrey is a little bit partial mix) at 15.30 minutes,

and Weatherall's Weekender (Audrey is a little bit more partial mix) at the longer 17.10 minutes.

Weatherall notched up yet another era defining moment to add to the collection he was already responsible for. Additional production and programming came from his Sabres of Paradise partners Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns.

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ENOUGH'S ENOUGH

This lost F Up classic appeared on some early promos of Weekender, vocally picking up where 'I'll Be Your Dog' left off, the track is a musically more traditional than Weekender, but a great slice of wonkey baggy pop non the less.

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DEBAUCHERY

I remember reading in several music magazines of the time (Rage ?) that in celebration of Weekender the band had taken over a mansion somewhere and staged a weeklong house party of unprecedented debauchery. Guests included Kylie Minogue and Hanif Kureshi but the reports of extreme revelry left one mind racing. This would prove to be the last time F Up gained any major attention. I was devastated when rumors started circulating that the band had imploded? How could a band capable of such freaky and often interstellar music come to such a 'non' end following such an era defining climax?

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DONT TALK JUST KISS - BETTER LIFE

Just after the release of Weekender Heavenly had released 'The Heavenly Fred EP' a 3 track covers tribute to the idiosyncratic pop band Right Said Fred, along side St Etienne and The Rockingbirds Flowered Up covered 'Don't Talk Just Kiss' turning the Fred hit into a bonafide F Up classic - that needs to be heard to be believed.

A few years after the bands implosion Heavenly released a one off Flowered Up 7" as part of it's Heavenly jukebox 7" singles club collection, the track Better Life was again a change of direction - a beautiful slice of inner-city Dub, but I was never clear wether it was old material from the Weekender era vaults or newly recorded Flowered Up music. One thing is sure, it's a corker. Nothing ever came of the band after that release, until a brief reformation a few years ago.

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GREEDY SOUL

From time to time rumors would start about Liam getting his act together with his new band Greedy Soul, and a deal with Alan Mcgee's Pop Tones label was in the air but no released music ever came of it. Although after Flowered up reformed for some live dates, it was also rumored that the Greedy Soul music would be released under the name Flowered up - the long awaited second album?

This track 'Dark Side of The Spoon' Is one the the 'Greedy Soul' tracks, and it shows that Liam still had it in him, a touching, funny and ultimately tragic track that sounds like Flowered Up mixed with Lou reed and The Streets.

THIS IS INCREDIBLE - HEAR THIS IN ALL ITS GROTTY GLORY...

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LEGACY

Now Liam is gone leaving a small legacy - a handful of very brilliant weird pop records and an album that could have been a serious contender had it had a little extra magic.

I never listen to the records these days, today I dug them out and played them all, still fantastic.

Right though the 90's I told people there was only one Liam in swagger gated scally rock and he wasn't called Gallagher.

At the time of writing, I don't know how he died, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was drug related - knowing the history of both himself and the band. But fuck it whatever the cause, I'll play these records again celebrate something.

Heres to Liam. Cheers for the tunes.

Kevin Cummins - Looking for the Light through the Pouring Rain

2009-10-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Just picked up Faber & Fabers hardback book of the Manchester photography of Kevin Cummins.

This is a stunning collection of photographs that capture the mood of Machunia from the mid 70's to the mid 90's.

From the city's greatest iconic pop star sons such as Ian Curtis, Morrisey, Mark E Smith and Ian Brown to the lesser known (yet often important) bands (The Worst, The Drones, Section 23) and from the 'kids on the street' youth tribes (Punks, Smiths fans, Baggy Ravers, Acid Casuals, B-Boys) to the gloomy doomy streets and shopping centres themselves - its all here, documented in the most vivid and beautiful way.

Flicking through this book is a contradictory experience for anyone who lived through the era, both heartbreaking and joyous in equal measure. Mixed feelings of celebrating the past, missing the past, getting old, lost times, good times, bad times, what was it all about, will things ever be as good /bad again? The poetry in Cummins shots is often overwhelming.

The book kicks off as all 1970's beginnings should, with a shot of David Bowie, (Bowie not in Manchester but down the road in Leeds) however the next shot we're treated to is an exhilarating Iggy Pop at Manchester Appolo in 1977 - a life changing moment for many, for sure. As next up is the result of the Iggy Pop/Sex Pistols revolution - a 1977 shot of Slaughter and the Dogs, the genuine Manc Punk band. From here were off on a journey that takes in touching shots of The Fall, The Buzzcocks, The Worst, The Drones, A Certain Ratio, Spherical Objects, Joy Division, John Cooper Clarke, Peter Saville, Tony Wilson, Linder, Magazine, Section 23, ludus, James, New Order, Jilted John, Rob Gretton, The Smiths, Jazz Defektors, Mick Hucknall, The Durutti Column, Martin Hannett, Vini Reilly, Mike Pickering, The Railway Children, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays, Charlatans, Electronic, Oasis, Billy Duffy, The Other Two, The Seahorses, Doves, whist also finding space to show us the streets of Salford, Hulme, Shudehill, and Moss Side including vital punk venue The Electric Circus, The Russell Club/Factory Club, The Hacienda, The Arndale Centre and Maine Road. As well as the usual Manc hero's there's shots of outsiders making an impact on the city - capturing Manchester gigs by The Jam, The Clash, The Slits, Wayne County, Ramones, Madonna and Michael Clark.

As well as the photographs themselves there's a treasure trove of wonderful paraphernalia for Mancophiles. Including text chapters by Richard Milward, Paul Morley, Johnny Marr, Peter Hook, Mark E Smith, Stuart Maconie and John Harris.

While also included are scans of such interesting fare as gig tickets, club membership cards, 7" single sleeves, button badges, party invites and even a postcard to Cumins from Morrisey himself.

The last four shots in the book are priceless.

The first a black and white shot of an empty stage full of destroyed flowers after a Morrisey gig. This photo alone shouts 'The Party is over' or even - 'The party is over - go home' a fitting photo for both the end of the book and the end of the Era which saw Manchester rule the British alternative music scene for a staggering 20 years.

The second is a stark black and white shot of an unknown persons arm (sleeve rolled to elbow) featuring a tattoo that simply reads 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' there's a proud devotion and a profound sadness in the photo that screams out similar feelings to that of the above empty stage 'Morrisey shot'. Curtis is dead, the party is over (for the time being) but the emotion created during Joy Divisions brief lifespan will live on forever.

The third is another black and white shot, this time of Ian Curtis' Grave stone which reads 18 - 5 - 80 Love Will Tear Us Apart. Shocking, moving and coming straight after the Tattoo shot, a confirmation if any were needed of all that loss, and the end of an era. Of course we know now that it was just the end of one era and soon the next wave of Manc music history would begin with New Order but here the Gothic overtones are as far away from the heady cocktail of flashing lights and colourful highs of the Madchester era as its possible to get, testimony of the sheer scope of images, styles, emotions, sounds and meanings thrown up by Manchester's hungry, energetic Children in the time frame that this book spans.

The last is a colour shot of a brick wall that has a roughly painted mural daubed onto its weathered brick work. The painting is of a Union Jack split in two and through the middle written in white paint reads 'There's no future in England's dreaming: John Lydon Of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Fame'. Saying all things at once, the graffiti is funny, sad and poigniant, funny because we know the quote came from John Lydon when he was Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols - one of the greatest Ant-Hero's England has ever seen. but after the joke about his current fame takes a second to die, the nasty aftertaste leaves a sadness - is this where it all lead to - sick and desperate reality TV shows for the dumbed down and vacuous? But look at the quote again from the mouth of a teenager not an old man, and it's genius is apparent once again.

For Johnny Rotten inspired the people in this book to dare to dream, and dream they did, wonderful ambitious sky reaching dreams. This book is the evidence not of England's dreaming but Manchester's dreaming, more over Manchester's dreams come true - from working class success story's and personal escapes from the urban poverty trap to City wide rejuvenation. Even the painting and it's union colours of red white and blue remind us of the inner sleeve of The stone Roses debut album a painting by John Squire called 'Waterfall' - a painting from an album now often considered the greatest debut album of all time - a record that as much as any in this book sums up and represents what power Johnny Rotten had and what could happen when the young had the balls to dream. It seems that during a certain period of British history Mancunians dreamed the most.

Breathtaking.

Essential.

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American Delinquents. 1950 - 1990

2009-09-29T04:20:00.000-07:00

Too old for Teenage Delinquent films? Well yeah, but the nostalgia kick off this stuff is huge, most of these i saw as a kid, pre-teenage and the rest I tracked down later out of my obsessive compulsion to see every film ever made. Also after Swayze died the other week, I watched Red Dawn again which I hadn't seen for years. That prompted this, a Splash One top 65 American Teensploitation, and Juvenile Delinquent flicks made between 1950 and 1990.

The Wild One. 1953

Just pre-dating the naming and selling of the Rock 'n' Roll concept by 2 years. However everything is already in place - the look and the attitude. Marlon Brando as tough moody leatherboy biker caused shock-waves through the nation helping cement a rapidly developing generation gap, soon to be labelled the teenager. Although Brando was far from being a teenager when he made it, his character certainly resonated heavy with the teenage hordes. He plays gang leader Johnny Strabler, electrifying in black leather jacket and riding a Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle, every gang movie needs a rival gang leader (see Crater Face in Grease) - here Lee Marvin take the role.

Considered a menace to society (scandalous and dangerous) by many authority figures the film was banned by the British Board of Film Censors, banned for 14 years! Eventually the film saw it's first legal British screening in London in 1968 and debuted to a crowd made up largely of later day Rockers.

The films influence is huge...

• Brando's raw method acting alone has a legacy of its own.

• James Dean the number one Teen Idol bought a Triumph TR5 to mimic the film.

• The Beatles got their name from the films rival biker gang - The Beetles.

• Sales of Black leather jackets rocketed after the film, as the Biker image became one particular staple of the rocker wardrobe, thanks to Brando.

• Brando's gang are called the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - a name later borrowed by noisy fuzztone indie rock n rollers BRMC.

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Rebel Without A Cause. 1955

Slap bang right on the money. The year of Rock 'n' Roll's official birth saw this film kick down the doors for a new type of screen hero and a new kind of acting. Grade A delinquent classic, Rebel sees James Dean forever frozen in teen idol celluloid gold. Ramming home the generation gap while Dean as 17 year old Jim Stark meets the girl, rows with his parents and rucks with the school bullies. The films 'chicken' car race is legendary, due to the film opening at Cinemas only one month after the fatal car crash that killed James Dean. Killed in a silver Porche 550 that he himself called 'The little Bastard' - how very rock n roll. The influence of these heavy in significance car scenes looms large in later day portrayals of the era such as American Graffiti and Grease. However its the introspective anguish and pain of adolescence as epitomised to perfection by Dean that really renders the film a classic.

The US Library of Congress has added the film to it's national film registry claiming the film to have cultural, historical and aesthetic importance, indeed it may possibly be the greatest Juve Delinquent film of all.

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Blackboard Jungle. 1955

The film that kick-started an on screen Rock 'n' Roll revolution. A classic 'teachers at a rough inner city school' set up provides a blueprint for many other delinquent / social commentary films to come. The great Sidney Poitier plays one of the the kids who engage in anti social antics. Glen Ford plays the Teacher trying to 'get down with the kids and earn their respect' while Vic Morrow plays bad boy Artie West.

The film comes to life from the off, featuring Bill Hayley's 'Rock Around The Clock' blaring out over the opening credits - introducing the world to the song. Soon sending it to number one in the US billboard charts. The trend for violence and vandalism at screenings began straight away as delinquents in their droves flocked to see the rock action and feel the crazy pulse beat.

Widely seen as marking the birth of a fully formed culture of teenage rebellion. The film has been aped time and time again in ever more terrible versions such as Class of 84 and Dangerous Minds.

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Rock Around The Clock. 1956

Basically a vehicle for rocker Bill Haley, (along with Rock 'n' Roll motormouth Alan Freed) to cash in on his own big hit of the same name. After blowing up off the back of Blackboard Jungle Hayley is back with a simplified fictional tale of how Rock 'n' Roll was discovered/created. Produced by B-Movie king Sam Katzman who would later helm a load of Elvis flicks in the 60's. So in tune with the teenage explosion of Rockers, Greasers and Teds of the time that the violent seed planted by Blackboard Jungle grew to fever pitch as it caused riots in America and Britain where chairs were ripped from the theatres and cinema after cinema trashed. The delinquent had well and truly arrived. And the media had a field day.

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The Girl Cant Help it. 1956

After Blackboard Jungle and Rock Around The Clock the cash ins were quick off the production line. This A-movie version of a B-Movie set up was intended as a satire of the new teen-aged Rock 'n' Roll fad. So good was it that it became what many believe to be one of the greatest depictions of the early rock era. Staring Jayne Mansfield as a gangsters moll who wants to be a singing star. It's the musical score however that kicks hard - featuring the title song by the greatest delinquent inspiring rocker of all - Little Richard. Also featured in cameo appearances are another two rock gods - Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. When shown in Liverpool a 16 year old John Lennon was blown away, and fired up enough to dream his own rock dream. A little later in 57 - a 15 year old Paul McCartney auditioned for a new group called the Quarrymen, he sealed the deal by performing an electrifying version of 'Twenty Flight Rock' - an identikit version of the one played by Eddie Cochran in The Girl Cant Help It.

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Don't Knock The rock. 1956

Bill Haley and Alan Freed return for more delinquency inspiring antics. this time Alan Dale plays a rock star who has returned home for summer to find that Rock 'n' Roll has been banned in the town. The premise is - disapproving square adults versus hip teens with Bill and Freed in the middle (Little Richard also appears) trying to prove that the kid's and the music ain't bad. This ridiculous premise sounds like a fantasy but in truth towns all across America especially the bible belt and southern states were leading a crusade against Rock 'n' Roll music which they saw as the devils music and branded as 'nigger music' showing the overt racism latent across the states. Many places held record burning sessions. Klan supporting rednecks across the country were scared that the music represented a black uprising. Made all the more hard for these evil idiots to swallow was the fact that their white teenage daughters were often lapping up the sounds of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino, further more white artists like Elvis were also labelled as Nigger Music.

The 'small town banning music' theme was later revisited by 80's cheese fest Footloose.

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Hot Rod Girl. 1956

Pure teen exploitation trash, hopping up on the bandwagon for the Hot Rod car trend. Surprisingly good fun, fast girls faster cars (55 T-Bird) and an appearance by Frank Gorshin (The Riddler in 60's TV series Batman) playing a guy called 'Flat top'! Worth watching just for the location - San Fernando Valley CA Drag-strip , it's generally considered a cult classic by fans of 1950's kitch. Also worth checking are is HOT ROD GANG and DRAGSTRIP GIRL.

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Crime In the Streets. 1956

With the Teen Delinquent flood gates open...

17 year old actor Sal Mineo had co stared alongside James dean in Rebel Without A Cause, this was his next delinquent role. Here co staring with the brilliant John Cassavetes as members of a menacing New York street gang - The Hornets. More than just A typical JD affair the film is generally noted for the fine performances of these two leads as being superior to most JD flicks, whilst the film cemented the Sal Mineo image as 'The Switchblade Kid'.

Directed by Don Seigel who was later responsible for the anti delinquent anti hippy classic - Dirty Harry. While not as well know as others in its genre Crime In The Streets does count Martin Scorsese as a fan, and with New york street crime as it's subject matter it's not hard to see why.

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Dino. 1957.

The brilliant Bronx born Sal Mineo (The Switchblade kid) is back again as a delinquent, this time he plays a 13 year old killer! Who's anger and badness come from an abusive upbringing.

Another great opportunity to see the now quite underrated Sal Mineo in action.

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10.

The Delinquents. 1957.

Not the dodgy Australian flick with Kylie but the debut of director Robert Altman. Altman wrote, directed and produced this teen shocker in his hometown of Kansas City. A fabulous tale of a love forbidden by small minded square adults (ha ha) - featuring a bucket load of genre essentials - Hot Rods, Greasers, the 'wrong crowd', gangs, booze, heavy handed cops, a switchblade fight and a bungled gas station robbery. GREAT.

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11.

High School Confidential. 1958

The Teen trend is exploited again in this delinquent classic about a high school dope ring. This film ticks all the JD boxes - sex, drugs, rock n roll, hep talk slang, bad attitude, flick knife-switch blades, undercover cops, drag racing, yep the whole package. The films cred it boosted by the inclusion of genuine rock bad boy - Jerry 'The Killer' Lee Lewis singing the title song over the opening sequence - a hell raising, hair standing up on back of neck moment if ever there was one!

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12.

Juvenile Jungle. 1958

The tag line for this film was 'The Switchblade and the Hot Wire Set!' and was part of a double bill with another William Whitney delinquent film Young and Wild. Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of director William Whitney (indeed a fan of this very film) but then Quentin's tolerance for exploitation of any genre is higher than most.

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13.

Cry Baby killer. 1958.

Juvenile Delinquent classic, from B-Movie maestro Roger Corman. A film now famous for being the big screen debut of Jack Nicholson. Jack plays a teen rebel loner called jimmy Wallace,who develops a classic Jack Nicholson type chip on his shoulder when his girlfriend leaves him after he is beaten up by some fellow hoods. Interesting to see that Jack had his whole anti hero thing down from day one.

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14.

West Side Story. 1961.

Musical telling of NY street gangs filtered through the story from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I love it but many cant stomach the songs, although the genius Leonard Bernstein did the score so those people must be mad.

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15.

The Young Savages. 1961

Wonderful early 60's gang flick. Queens born NY director John Frankenheimer reflects his surroundings with this tale of a young NY Spanish Harlem street gang called the Thunderbirds who are in a street war with rival (Puerto Rican) gang The horsemen. The gangland scrapes make for entertaining viewing that was certainly raw in its day. A highly charged picture that explores very cutting edge themes considering the time it was made - peer pressure and poverty but especially race.

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The Wild Angels. 1966.

B-Movie king Roger Corman gets in on the Biker movie trend with this very good exploitation fair. Set in Southern Cali, Wild Angels is a pretty edgy biker film - a full 3 years before easy rider whose star Peter Fonder also takes the lead here. Fonder plays a Hells angel leader with Nancy Sinatra as his girlfriend and Bruce Dern his right hand man. Sex drugs, Rock N Roll are all present and correct. Fonda's "we just wanna be free..." dialogue from the film has been sampled by indie rock bands Primal Scream and Mudhoney.

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The Trip. 1967.

Corman's next exploitation shocker was lo budget psychedelic feature The Trip. Which saw him jump on the trend for investigating the hippy counter-culture and the weird world of LSD. Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern team up again while Fondas soon to be Easty Rider partner Dennis Hopper is also present here. Fonder plays a young TV director embarking on his first Trip. Watch out.

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Psych-Out. 1968.

A much better Psychedelic movie than The Trip, with a great soundtrack and a feel that comes close to capturing the era. Staring Susan Strasbourg as a deaf runaway who falls in with the flower children one of whom is Jack Nicholson. The adventure that follows includes much drug taking and hallucinations - freaking out is what it's all about. Although there are some pretty nasty scenes of violence and near rape, the film trys to straddle the messy line between peace loving passive drug taking protest and violent fuck the man activism of the heavier elements of the counter culture. Never too in depth, but with cult Bands such as the Seeds and strawberry Alarm Clock making cameo appearances, the film is as much loved now for it's colourful kitch charm as anything else.

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19.

American Graffiti. 1973.

George Lucas' greatest film, better than Star Wars. Set in the period of the 60's when much of the 50's rock n roll culture was still prevalent in America, hot rod cars, diner's etc. The film follows a group of high school kids before they spit up to either go to collage or become (horror of horrors) adult. A coming of age tale that has one of the finest soundtracks ever put on film. Lead the way for films as diverse as Grease and Dazed and Confused, while also pretty much inventing US TV smash Happy Days. Think it was Harrison Fords first role too.

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20.

The Education Of Sonny Carson. 1974.

The highly acclaimed autobiographical portrayal of Sonny Carson, a young black male who goes from promising student to gang member to a harsh and dreadful term in prison, a hard-hitting tale of the poverty trap and institutional racism.

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21.

The Lords Of Flatbush. 1974.

CULT CLASSIC.

Before the Fonz and before Rocky - Henry Winkler and Sly Stallone are brought together for a film that was early in the 1970's trend for 50's delinquent rock n roll flicks (see American Graffiti and Grease). This Brooklyn set gang movie is a blinder as we witness the Fonz practically inventing himself before our eyes, while Sly plays an Italian greaser in an impressive attention grabbing role.

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22.

The Switchblade Sisters. 1975.

Also known as 'The Jezebels' and 'Playgirl Gang' this outrageous teen exploitation flick has gathered massive cult status over the years. Quentin Tarantino oversaw it's DVD release a few years back.

The story of girl street gang the Dagger Debs who's inter-gang fighting leads to seriously violent results. Directed by known Blaxploitation heavy hitter Jack hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) who injects the film with his trademark snap, crackle and pop - lesbian prison brawls, roller rink shootouts and full on machine gun warfare are all at home in the mix.

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23.

Cooley High. 1975.

Essentially a Black American Graffiti, but set in the Motown era of the early 60's. Chicago set Cooley high sees the class of 64 getting down from the hood to the schoolyard in an early depiction of the black urban lifestyle (of the 1960's), more than just a blaxploitation film though this respected comedy drama has a serious place in the teen delinquent cannon.

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24.

The Blank Generation. 1976.

Very early punk documentary capturing raw primitive live footage of the emanating NY punk scene at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City. Much of it is filmed by Ivan Kral who was also a member of The Patti Smith group, has a kind of insiders view. All the main player of the scene are included in their infancy - Blondie, Talking Heads, The Ramones, The Heartbreakers and of course Patti Smith. A rough snapshot of the arty delinquents about to storm the barricades and take over with a new kind of rock n roll.

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25.

Saturday Night Fever. 1977.

I'm sure this film needs no introduction. Italian American Brooklyn kids getting their kicks any which way they can, all wrapped around the current youth quake - DISCO. Fantastic soundtrack, which you should own anyway. Despite all the spoofs and mickey taking over the years, seen now it still remains a pretty edgy urban tragedy with Travolta in his finest role.

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26.

Grease. 1978.

On a roll after Sat Night Fever, Travolta returns, this time 70's disco gives way to the huge 50's/early 60's rock 'n' roll revival. As this now classic musical grabs all the cool shit from those old Juvenile Delinquent drive in B-movie's and throws it together to create a monster smash. Everything from the Wild One and Rebel Without A Cause to Blackboard Jungle is raided - Hot rods, switchblades, chicken race's, dance offs, street gangs, leather jackets, gum chewing soda drinking, base ball boot wearing, grease haired, bobby sox'ed, hep talking teens (played by actors in their 30's) inhabit a world where the drive in and the dinner are always just around the corner.

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27.

Animal House. 1978.

And so the Frat genre continues, this time elevated by the National lampoons brand, and a young comedy genius fresh from Sat night live - John Belushi. No street gangs here, but the antics are just as wild. On the down side the frat genre would later give the world such dross as the American Pie series of films. oh dear.

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28.

Big Wednesday. 1978.

Another cult classic, Big Wed depicts the surf culture of California from the 60's to the 70's.

The king of all surf movies, topping all that came before, at the time it was released it featured the greatest surf sequences ever put on the big screen, some genuinely jaw dropping action. Again its the addition of an ultra cool soundtrack that puts the cherry on the top. Director John millius would go on to make '80's teen gang V's Soviet Army flick Red Dawn.

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29.

The Wanderers. 1979

An out and out delinquent classic. As a kid this was essential viewing, and much talked about at school.

set in 1963 when the time's they are a changing, from the street gang rock n roll rumbles of the 50's to the counter culture of the hippy 60's this film take place just before the big changes blew in (Beatles, Assassination of JFK, Anti Vietnam protest, free love, etc) and show that for some the rumbles still rumbled on. Hilarious now but seemed quite shocking as a kid - as various gangs engage in pointless battle over turf.

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30.

Over The Edge. 1979.

one of the greatest delinquent films ever, highly controversial on it's release. Matt Dillon in his first role heads up a cast of bored young kids out for kicks. Based on the true events taking place in small suburban new towns across America in the late 70's, the film was more gritty and realistic than the other juvenile gang films that came out during the same period (see The warriors). An orgy of sex drugs, vandalism and violence this film has gone down in the history books as one of the essential cult films of the 1970's. Whats more the soundtrack is incredible - Cheap Trick, Jimi Hendrix !!

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31.

The Warriors. 1979.

Not to be confused with The Wanderers (also 79) this out and out gem has seen its cult following grow and grow over the years.

All the NY street gangs (100,000 gang members) are called together for a truce, when the appointed spokesman is assassinated at the huge meeting, chaos erupts. Wrongly blamed for the killing Coney island gang The Warriors must make it all the way from The Bronx, through Manhattan and Brooklyn to get back to the safety of their own turf. Hunted by fellow gang bangers along the way, the action never stops in this Walter Hill comic book violence masterpiece. Andrew Lasalo's night time cinematography is perfection, as our anti hero's battle through neon streets, pitch black parks, strip lit subways and the dead of night itself to get back home alive.

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32.

Hometown USA. 1979

Cashing in on the nostalgia for the 50's that was still fashionable in 79 despite running throughout the entire 70's. very much aping the style of American Graffiti in both look and subject matter. High school kids, Chevy convertibles, hot rod cruising, and a great rockin' soundtrack all add up to a highly enjoyable addition to the expanding 50's revival genre.

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33.

Rock and Roll High School. 1979.

The Ramones get their own old school delinquent flick, fitting for a band whose love of 50's rock n roll and 60's pop saw a return to the stripped down sound and attitude of the golden age of youth culture. The film is wrapped around thread bare plot of the character of Riff Randal a female Ramones fan who along with fellow students takes over the school in the ultimate act of rebellion. All told it's a pretty poor film especially considering it came out in the same year as Grease. However The Ramones save the film just by being genius. The end result no matter how ropey is great fun.

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34.

Times Square. 1980.

Pissed off group of misunderstood youths form a punk band to vent their frustration and alienation. The Sleaze Sisters are a couple of rich kid lesbian runaways from the Big Apple.

Tim Curry of Rocky Horror fame plays the DJ that befriends the girls and encourages their musical antics. produced by Robert Stigwood (Sat night Fever) who wanted the film to be to new wave what SNF was to disco. it wasn't to be however and the film bombed at the box office. Over the years becoming an underground cult item, not least because it documents and captures the mood and feel of Times Square at that time, a seedy grind-house area, now cleaned up and transformed beyond all recognition. Bikini Kill cite this as their favourite film, while The Manic Street preachers have referenced the film time and time again.

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35.

Ladies and Gentlemen The fabulous Stains. 1981.

Until recently released on DVD this was a genuine lost cult film. Interesting to most as it features members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols in main acting roles. A film about a group of Teenage girls who form a punk band and go on to become a huge delinquent phenomenon. Early example of proper girl power the film influenced Riot Grrrl groups such as Huggy Bear and Bikini Kill, whilst Courtney love was also a huge fan.

In the film Diane Lane plays the lead singer of the stains, while Laura Dern is also a member of the band. They tour with another punk band made up of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols and Paul Simonon of The Clash, while Ray Winston is the singer of this second featured group.

Released in 82 the film sunk without a trace. However the years that followed saw it pick up a fanatical cult following due to its late night screenings on cable TV in the states. I first heard about this film in the mid 90's when The Beastie Boys did a huge in depth article on it for their Grand Royal magazine, now finally after all these years the film is available and gaining the respect it deserves.

Diane Lane would soon crop up in two 80's delinquent masterworks - The outsiders and Rumble Fish.

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36.

The Decline Of Western Civilisation. 1981.

Serious documentary about the LA punk scene with footage from 79 to 80. LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in L.A. Such was it's inflammatory energy that it was feared it would only incite more of the so called horrors it depicted. Using concert footage and interviews with bands and players on the scene the film paints a vivid picture of this era in LA music history. An almost definitive who's who of early 80's LA punk including bands such as Black Flag, The germs, X, The Bags, Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline and Fear. Germs singer Darby Crash committed heroin-induced suicide shortly before the film was released.

Director Penelope Spheeris went on to make 80's cult classics Suburbia and The Boys Next Door.

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37.

Wild Style. 1982.

In true exploitation style, it had to happen sooner or later....someone just had to capture on film the biggest youth cult ever to hit New York and later take over the world. Hip Hop culture was still in its early-ish stages when this fine lo budget docu drama was made. Capturing a hand full of key players from the worlds of Graffiti, Turntablism, Rap and Breaking - setting a blueprint that other more commercial films like Beat Street would follow.

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38.

Another State Of Mind. 1982.

Another Punk documentary this time following the tour trail of two major players on the punk scene Social Distortion and Youth Brigade, Punk icons Minor Threat are also featured in the film. Well worth seeking out.

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39.

Liquid Sky. 1982.

If the realist gritty down to earth sensibilities of west coast hardcore punk are well served by Another State of mind, then punks arty elitist East coast version is served by this wild and weird punk Sci-Fi drama. A girl realizes she can kill people by having sex with them at a party. The plot really is too far out to explain here. This is an under appreciated minor masterpiece of trash fashion and new wave synth sound - together in electric dreams, or is that nightmares.

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40.

Bad Boys. 1983.

Hard hitting Chicago crime drama that focuses on teenage delinquency, staring Sean Penn.

The promo for the film read "At the age of 9, they've joined a street gang; at 12, they're pushing drugs. At 16, they're part of a nightmare teenage underworld of rape, mugging, armed robbery and murder". The second half of the film moves from the mean streets to a Juve detention centre at which point the film kind of becomes a less gritty American version of British delinquent classic SCUM.

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41.

The Outsiders. 1983.

Francis Ford Coppola's masterful adaptation of the magnificent S.E.Hinton novel. A veritable Brat Pack super-group - C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph machio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane and Leif Garrett make up the tough greaser street gang of the early 60's. Possibly the finest 80's delinquent film, and for my money one of the best ever. Set in Tulsa in Oklahoma, the group of bored greasers from the wrong side of the tracks fight with their rivals the posh kids 'The Socs' from the right side of the tracks while the girls get stuck in the middle, and it all ends in tragedy. The whole film is like a Bruce Springsteen song - pure Americana in the most exciting but doomed way. Coppola and Mat Dillon would team up again in the sequel of sorts Rumble Fish.

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42.

Rumble Fish. 1983.

Filmed straight after The outsiders, Coppola teams up with Mat Dillon again, in another gangland teen drama, this time however the film takes an even more poetic path than that of The Outsiders, helped no doubt by the stunning stark black and white camera work. Both films were written by S.E. Hinton and here Dillon plays Rusty James the younger brother of Mikey Rourke's ex gang leader character, coming to terms with his failer to live up to his older brothers legend. Also stars Nicolas cage and Chris Penn as gang members, Dennis hopper as the boys loser father and Tom Waits as the bar-man, while Diane Lane plays Rusty's long suffering girlfriend. Savaged by critics on release however I first saw this when i was ten years old and both the films strong visual image and stylised content made a huge impression on me, I had up until that point in my life seen nothing like it.

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43.

Style Wars. 1983.

Documentary about the NYC hip hop culture, which at the time was just about the most exciting thing you could watch about the most exciting thing in the world!!!

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44.

Red Dawn. 1984.

The opening scenes to this distopian action thriller must have been pretty chilling on release in 84. Still very effective now, but back then during the height of cold war paranoia it must of left a nasty taste.

Film starts in small town Colorado, a picture perfect day as pupils are arriving at school and heading into class, we see charlie Sheen and C Thomas Howell being dropped off by older Brother Patrick Swayze in his pick up truck (a role much like the one he played in The Outsiders). Once in class we see the teacher lecturing his pupils like any normal school day, until he looks out of the window and notices something in the sky, on closer inspection it appears that tens of paratroopers are falling out of the sky and landing on the empty field. Immediately Assuming this is some US military exercise that the school has not been informed about, then comes the chill, as the soldiers run toward the school and open fire on the classrooms. The school is under attack, America is under attack. These are Soviet troops. Chaos erupts many pupils die, Sheen and Howell escape outside where Swayze has hightailed it back to pick them up. After stopping for guns, food and clothes supplies the boys and a few more friends escape to the nearby mountains, where for the rest of the film they hideout and train themselves to become a successful anti soviet terrorist group. After learning that The Soviets now occupy the Southern states and most of the boys family's have been captured or killed, they rescue two girls who have been hiding in a cellar, it is implied later that one of them was raped by Soviet troops.

This was the first film in America to have a PG 13 rating caught as it was between being a kids action romp and an out and out nightmare.

At one time it was considered the most violent film in American history by the Guinness book of records, 134 violent acts per hour, it was a wonder it wasn't forced to have a higher age rating. But this was the time of Reaganomics and such anti communist propaganda was probably encouraged. Their was certainly a flood of films with similar sentiment.

Theres a prologue before the film begins that explains the details of the invasion. So plausible that during the cold war that the US war collage used the attack set up in the film as a test case. Also the operation to capture Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was named Operation Red Dawn after the film.

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45.

Footloose. 1984.

Cheesy tale of a small-town trying to keep the youth in check and crush delinquency by banning pop music and dancing. That is until Kevin Bacon shows up with his godawful Kenny Login's song. At which point the locals are battered into surrender.

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46.

Beat Street. 1984.

While the idiots in Footloose were learning to dance to bloody Kenny Logins, the real story was happening here..

Taking the blueprint laid down by Wild Style and adding some higher production values. This tale of South Bronx Hip Hop lifestyle ticks all the boxes, Graffiti, DJing, Breakdancing and Rap, but does so in a more mainstream depiction. That's not to say that all the rough edges have been trimmed, there's still plenty here to recommend repeat viewing, the locations alone are fantastic, and the infamous New york City Breakers are of course stunning. Another highlight is the early appearance of Doug E fresh.

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47.

Repo Man. 1984.

Emilio Estevez stars along side Harry Dean Stanton in this sci-fi punk thriller. Directed by Alex Cox (fact: executive producer was the Monkees Mike Nesmith) who kicks his love of punk and cult film into a whole new weird space. Punk was still thriving in mid 80's LA, Estevez plays Otto a bored (what else) young punk rocker who after a series of unfortunate events come into contact with Bud (Stanton) who he starts to hang out with. Bud is an automobile repossession agent and soon Otto is helping him out for cash. but one of the cars they are trying to track down has a trunk full of trouble, something mysterious and powerful (an atomic bomb? an alien? a doorway to another dimension?) awaits. Terrific cult favourite.

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48.

Suburbia. 1984.

Punks not dead, well it certainly wasn't in mid 80's lost suburban America. This Roger Corman produced cult punk effort depicts the lives of delinquent run aways who in true punk style squat in abandoned housing. It's rough around the edges to say the least, lo budget and scrappy but has it's place here. Many such as Vincent Canby claim it to be the best teenager revolt film since Over The Edge (see 1979). The film stars a very young Flea (Red hot chili peppers) as one of the gang, real punks and musicians were recruited to play the roles instead of jobbing actors, which does add to the films realist docu feel. Also features some great live punk gig footage including bands such as The Vandals, DI and TSOL.

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49.

Streets Of fire. 1984.

A definite guilty pleasure movie this one. As the film trys it's hardest to be a kind of Warriors, Escape from New York hybrid, but doesn't quite make the grade. yet gains extra appeal through kitch factor as each year passes. Often described as a Rock 'n' Roll fantasy, as a hot singer is kidnapped by a gang of typically rocking bikers before her manager hires a young gunslinger to rescue her. All 80's excess crossed with an underlying neon aesthetic hung over from the new wave scene of the early part of the decade. The fact that it starts Diane Lane and Willem Dafoe makes it all the more watchable.

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50.

The Boys Next Door. 1985.

One for the delinquent buddy genre. Director Penelope Spheeris follows up the equally desolate Suburbia with this ultra violent adventure. Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield play Bo and Roy two boy's coming to the end of their teenage years looking straight down the barrel of a bleak future. The only thing for it is to keep the adolescence rolling, more sex, more drugs, more booze, more violence and eventually murder. Bleak and nihilistic a brat pack antidote to the John Hughes school of teen drama. Interesting that while Charlie (the wild one) was doing this his brother Emilio was staring in rather tame Hughes classic The Breakfast Club - although he had also just filmed the insane sci-fi punk classic Repo Man..

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51.

Return Of The living Dead. 1985.

George A Romero's one time partner in crime John Russo retained the rights to the living Dead name when the pair parted company after night of the living dead. So while George A Romero went of to helm a startling run of metaphorically political Zombie films, Russo took a more comedic path. Despite or maybe because of the slapstick humour this Zombie flick it's actually also a much loved Punk movie. A group of mid 80's punk rockers deal with an army of undead as the zombies attack a small-town. I love the soundtrack which features The cramps (Surfin Dead) The damned (Dead beat dance) and the legendary Rocky Erickson (Burn The flames) whom this blog is named after.

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52.

New Kids. 1985.

Two of the A list brat packers James Spader and Eric Stoltz star in this tale of bullying and revenge. Two Orphans move to a small town where they are subjected to further torment by a gang of sadistic bully's. Eventually things come to a climax at a Carnival, always a great place for a showdown.

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53.

Krush Groove. 1985.

A fictionalized account of the Def Jam records empire staring Run DMC and featuring other Def Jam artists such as LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys, while other rap stars such as Kurtis Blow and Fat Boys also join the party.

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54.

Back To the Future. 1985.

Biff Tannen.

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55.

Breakfast Club. 1985.

Hardly real delinquents by any stretch but these middle-class kids are on detention so they must have done something wrong right? Much loved ever so cheesy 80's Brat Pack flick from the now adored John Hughes who died last year. The cringe factor is very high, but that's possibly the point, and certainly all of the enjoyment.

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Rivers Edge. 1986.

This is more like it, pretty twisted stuff. A group of real delinquents know that one of their gang has murdered his girlfriend, her body sits naked and untouched on the river bank. What to do? Pressure to do the right thing and paranoia in the face of nonchalance soon take their toll.

The underrated yet stunning Crispin Glover plays the one who want to cover up the murder and save his friend (who shows no remorse) while a young Keanu reeves plays the one who starts to feel guilty over leaving the body of a young girl naked on the riverbank, in a stoner slightly less moronic version of his only acting style - dopey Gen X moron (Bill and Ted).

Hard hitting and based on the true 1981 case of 14 year old Marcy Renee Conrad who was raped and murdered by 16 year old Anthony Broussard (who as in the film bragged to his friends about the deed) and showed at least 13 different people the girls dead body, shockingly despite this the crime went unreported for two days. Thus giving the film it's devastating crux.

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Stand By Me. 1986.

In a film that like Rivers Edge is also about a body (known to exist only by a group of kids) that lies unreported and unfound by the law or society. The film could be described Rivers edge meets a less slapstick version of the Goonies but set (appropriately for this blog) in the back end of the 1950's. Will Weaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'connell and River Phoenix play four lads who set out on an adventure to find the dead body of a boy hit by a train, who they have heard is lying in the woods. On the way they come of age, learning much about themselves and each other. The delinquent factor is notched up by a typical gang of (older) 50's hoods, a group of car cruisin' baseball bat wielding bullies called The Cobras and lead by Kiefer Sutherland.

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58.

Peggy Sue Got Married. 1986.

This is pretty much just a re-jigged Back To The Future with an ageing female mother (Kathleen Turner) who goes 25 years back in time to her senior high school days - 1960. It's actually much better than you'd think, due to the fact that it's director was Francis Ford Coppola.

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59.

RAD. 1986.

The BMX trend follows in the footsteps of all those great Surf, Hot Rod car and Biker films of the bygone era, and gets some serious big screen time. Ok so ET got there first in 82 with some significant BMX sequences, and BMX Bandits was a whole BMX plot but it was always a lame film. Here however a more solid attempt is made to squeeze some BMX action into a feature film. Directed by Hal Needham who did all the Smokey and The bandit films. This still has not seen a release on DVD.

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60.

Thrashin. 1986.

By 1986 the BMX scene was beginning to be swamped by the ever-growing skateboard cult. Thrashing is an attempt to make a drama out of the skate scene. It includes sequences featuring many of the main skaters of the day such as Tony Alva, Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero. The delinquents here are a gang of skate punks called the Daggers. The film joins the dots between

the punk and skateboard cults. Circle Jerks feature on the soundtrack while skaters are seen sporting T-Shirts by bands like Devo, Vice Squad and Siouxsie and the banshees.

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Class of Nuke Em High. 1986.

Classic high school exploitation meets sci fi horror in the insane Troma B-Movie. A New Jersey high school located next to a nuclear power plant gets contaminated and soon the students are mutating into punkoid monsters! Yikes.

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Less Than Zero. 1987.

A loose adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel by the same name. if 'Fast times at Ridgemont High was the party then this is the dark nasty come down. Brat packer Andrew McCarthy plays Clay whom on returning home for Christmas from his first term at Collage discovers that his girlfriend Blair has been sleeping with his best friend - the Junkie Julian played by Robert Downey Jr. As Clay tries so come to terms with the situation the other two seemingly ignore their problems, sinking further into drug addiction and denial. Julian is hounded by his dealer Rip - James Spader in yet another spectacular sleaze bag role. Bret Easton Ellis disliked the film greatly on it's release, no wonder when his novels empty void of self and self loathing is replaced in the film with a rather heavy handed anti drugs message. Also many parts of the novel were not used in the film including the protagonists watching Snuff films and the rape of a 12 year old girl in Rip's apartment. Despite the butchering of Ellis' book the film retains some of the intentional savage critique of spoilt brat LA life, and remains an interesting film still. Although adaptations of Ellis' books got much better with time, American Psycho and The Rules of Attraction are both far superior films.

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The Lost Boys. 1987.

The delinquent horror theme as seen in class of nuke em high continues... Here a gang of motorcycle riding, fast living, hard drinking Californian punks turn out to be Vampires. It falls to 'new in town' brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) to team up with a couple of local paranoia geeks 'the frog brothers' (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander) to track down and take out the vampires who they suspect responsible for the spate of disappearances in the area. one problem Michael having fallen in love with Star a female half vampire, is soon himself 'on the turn'.

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Colours. 1988.

LA gang banging gets an early Hollywood treatment before the flood of these films that would swamp in the 90's. Interestingly directed by Dennis Hopper who has a track record for good youth movies see many of the above. Great casting sees Robert Duvall and Sean Penn play a couple of LAPD cops dealing with life on the streets, and it's heavy out there.

A strangely overlooked film, considering performances, camera work and soundtrack are all grade A.

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Heathers. 1989.

A fucked up black comedy / high school drama. All those endless high school films - gone wrong. Winona Ryder is a member of the high school trendsetting 'in crowd' (all called Heather) but begins to question the set up, once hooked up with new kid in school Jason Dean (Christian Slater) the pair begin a bizarre rite of passage that includes multiple murder of the worst offenders of the vacuous culture/lifestyle. Truly strange little film, a nightmare version of a John Hughes movie, heathers has become a firm cult classic.

Boys Own

2009-09-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

While fishing around in Beatdown records at the weekend I came across a copy of the just released replica Boys Own fanzine. Which has been issued as a promo tool for the forthcoming 20 years of Boys Own/Jr Boys Own (my God is it that long ago!!) compilation album - titled 'Boys Own Odyssey - Acid House Scrapes and Capers'. Also released is what looks like a must have book that collects together the complete Boys Own fanzines from 86 to 92 - the stuff of legend. For those of you that may not know what the hell I'm talking about...

Boys Own was the name given to a collective of like-minded DJ's and wideboys at the back end of the 80's. These wideboys just so happened to kick start a British revolution in response to both the explosion of House music happening stateside and some less savory British takes on the emergent youth quake.

Boys own established a true underground culture from which their take on House could thrive, and their Boys Own fanzine was instrumental in this. Taking some initial influence from Liverpool football/Casual fanzine The End, the boys Own posse added a more open ended manifesto to their pages. A truly hedonistic call to arms but almost mod in it's outlook and attitude. The core posse was made up of Terry Farley, Andrew Weatherall, Steve maze and Cymon Eckles and from fanzine to the first documented outdoor raves to a groundbreaking British record label - not to mention a load of truly life changing records, BO in there time were some serious geezers.

The label JBO brought the likes of stadium house giants The Chemical brothers, Underworld and X-Press 2 into the world, but there's so much more than that in the JBO story. And everyone has their own take or their own preferences. For me it's all about a hand full of boundary breaking genre smashing life affirming moments, most of them involve Andrew Weatherall - still one of my hero's to this day.

Things like...

• Bocca Juniors 'Raise' a tune that still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This band was basically the Boys Own super group.

• Andrew Weatherall's remix of 'Soon' by My Bloody Valentine, this came out on creation but was later featured on a box set of Junior Boys Own's essential label related picks. Essential is definitely one word to describe this music, another two would be 'life changing'.

• One Dove's cover version of Dolly Parton's Jolene, underrated Scottish indie dance wonders One Dove take the Dollywood classic and turn it into an epic Dub House masterpiece - all under the guiding hand of yes... Andrew Weatherall. One Dove's singer Dot Alison went on to make some brilliant solo albums and work with Death in Vegas.

• Terry Farley's sublime and 'last word' remix of Primal Screams 'Loaded' the tune that cracked open the last resistance of indie kids to house music.

• Black Science Orchestra's 'New Jersey Deep' out and out classic of it's era.

• The Chemical brothers 'Leave Home' from their beginnings as the Dust Brothers (not the US Dust brothers) there was always something special about these two geeks, you cant argue with this.

• Ballistic brothers 'Peckings' this joyous slice of neo Ska came from their 'London Hooligan Soul' album which managed to distill all of the bands influences from the Jam and The Clash through Ska and Dub to Jazz Funk and deep house.

• DSK - 'What Would We Do' - total headrush anthem that was recently sampled by grime star Wiley on his smash hit 'Rolex'.

• Substance - another killer track by Bocca Juniors, that still sounds soooo exciting - beamed in from a punk rock house nation in outer-space. The sleeve is fantastic too.

• ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART - Weatherall mix, those who know it know it, i hope you know it. Beautiful. Bliss. Heavenly. Perfection. Actually came out on St Etienne's Heavenly label but it fit's into the JBO scrapbook so perfectly that nitpicking is irrelevant.

• Happy Mondays 'Hallelujah' Club mix - the most important rock 'n' roll band of the acidhousequake era get the Boys own treatment (a colab between Weatherall and Oakenfold), not that they needed it as they were on that wavelength anyway. GENIUS

There's loads of others, you may have your own, but those are mine.

I never had any of the original fanzines so it'll be interesting to read some of Weatherall's old ramblings, and to get a sneaky read of some frontline banter from back in the day.

Also Splash One cohort Mike Porter bought one of the original Boys Own Clockwork Orange style logo T-shirts at the time. He has still got it and over the years I've offered him money, even the very fine satorial authority - Eleven clothing Emporium in Sunderland have offered him cash so they can frame it on the wall, so iconic and strong a symbol of a great time now lost is that classic T-shirt that people who lived through the era melt at the mere sight of that graphic.

So then this compilation and book, a tiny reminder of some good time's past.

But all said and done fuck it and live for today looking to tomorrow - don't spend too much time looking back - it's what they they would have wanted.

Retriever live, Head of Steam.

2009-09-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Right here's a plug for our good friends LME who are putting on a fine gig tonight at The head of Steam...

Line up includes...

Retriever.

My favourite Newcastle band, Retriever are only two gigs old, tonight will be there third gig in the city. Already they've captivated the minds and hearts of many. With a confident mix of 60's garage and post punk influence and styling's this well dressed threesome create a wall of gammer ray white noise over a set of punishing drum machine beats. Hat's are tipped to The Jesus and Mary Chain but front-woman Jackie's street cheetahhh vocals are shots from the hip that confirm that this group are no lad rock guit(sn)ore trip. Her cool ranting sits atop a cacophony of repetitive driving fuzz bass and the beautiful, simple and affecting guitar parts kooked up with nonchalant gum chewing style by young (deliberately non) guitarist Garth. Certainly a band to keep an eye on, they are already in the studio recording a debut ltd edition 7 inch.

-----------------

Education Education Education.

I'm looking forward to seeing this band since it houses two dear friends in bass player Martin (one half of DJ team Its A Happening - who play Jukebox when the mood is right) and Paul Emmet (Ex front-man of the infamous Oxfam Glamour Models). So a bit of friendship nepotism? Well yes but... the pressure is on because they've assure me that they 'are great'.

It's an early gig - doors : 7pm. but it's only £3 !!!

Hope to see you there.

Kristian.

The Strange Boys

2009-09-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

One of the best gigs I caught this year was when Austin Texas four piece garage band The Strange Boys played Newcastle a few months ago. What struck me most was how natural they were yet at the same time completely wrapped up in their own world, it's usually a bad thing when a band make no concession's towards it's audience what so ever, with these guys though it just made them all the more endearing. And on top of what was already a winning formula of raw garage with a sweet melodic melancholic twist that had the crowd captivated. Singer Ryan Sambol's genius weird vocals alone were worth the ticket price.

The first time I really paid any attention to the band was earlier in the year when at a music seminar with Geoff Travis of Rough trade (the man who signed The Smiths, The Fall, The Strokes amongst others) Geoff was asked by a member of the crowd which bands were exciting him at the minute, to which he responded by singing the praises of The Strange Boys. So the investigation began. Mark a friend of mine gave me a promo copy of the bands debut album 'The Strange Boys and Girls Club' (on the ever reliable IN THE RED label) and informed me that he was trying to book the band for a Newcastle date. Excited I put the album on the stereo and was instantly disappointed by the rather average indie jangle that came from the speakers. The weird thing is that's its only the first track that is not outstanding - bizarrely the rest of the record is a wonderful collection of authentic nuggets style garage racket crossed with heartwarming bitter sweet and soulful guitar pop of the finest calibre. It's a grower and it really gets under the skin, I cant recommend this record enough. Elements I've fallen in love with include The Brian Jones style early Rolling Stones R&B guitar sounds, the schitzo vocals that veer from insanity to beauty, and the raw naked songs themselves.

Many people on initial listen have told me they think the band are a sub standard Black lips, yet the very same people have come back weeks later and said they were wrong and they now prefer The Strange Boys to the Black lips since the songs start to grow in beauty and brilliance with each repeat play.

I cant get enough of this record.

king khan & the Shrines

2009-09-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

(Sorry for the slightly messed up layout of this blog, cant work out why it's not working)

Like something I could only invent in my head. A unity of edgy 60's Garage kicks and late 60's / early 70's live-wire shock treatment R & B, with all the punk and funk that that implies. Its the kind of thing that Jukebox/Splash one favourites such as The Dirtbombs and Detroit cobras (hell sometimes even the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) have come close to nailing but never quite hit the mark like these guys. Pure James Brown meets MC5 - with a Spike Milligan/Monty Python twist!

They first came to my attention last year when a friend wouldn't stop ranting to me about them, the sort of rant that is usually followed by disappointment when the music is finally heard. Not so with King Khan, who on first listen more than justified the hype. My friend had come to the band via their association with brilliant Atlanta based garage band The Black lips, with whom some members of King Khan have formed a super group.

The band describe themselves as not so much a band but an all star international movement, this claim it seems is backed up by anyone who has witnessed their chaotic high octane live shows, like their London debut that got so rowdy it was stopped by the Police. These gigs are said to take influence from Sun Ra's Arkestra and George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic, these are pretty bold claims to make if you cant back them up. The evidence thankfully is all over the Internet, gig after gig people are left reeling from the soul power of this 11 piece band. In true Clinton style the on stage shenanigans are already

legendary within the underground garage community, on stage nudity, arson, cross dressing, you name it

and it's gone on in the mix up on stage at some point.

Front man Arish ''King'' Khan describes the live experience ''I like to compare our live shows to a gospel freak-out

from back in the day - [as] if there was a Japanese animation monster with nine penises running through the church.''

Another kooky aspect to the band is the Voodoo angle - front man Khan practices Voodoo in his spare time, and is part of a secret voodoo death cult, known as The Kukomongas (The black lips are also members).

The band take influence from a deep well of serious soul gospel, jazz and funk including Sun Ra, Eddie Floyd, The Falcons, Funkadelic, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Curtis Mayfield - but unlike other modern day soul/funk outfits these guys keep things rockin' with a charged punk rock spirit, and a sense of adventure that has seen their music often described as psychedelic soul, there's certainly enough far out Nuggets style elements in there to justify this label.

I'm really excited that King Khan & the Shrines are heading to Newcastle (The Other rooms) for an unmissable gig that should prove to be a talking point for some time to come.

KING KHAN & THE SHRINES

PLAY THE OTHER ROOMS

SAT 3rd OCT !!!

A Place To Bury Strangers

2009-09-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.myspace.com/aplacetoburystrangers

This NYC band has been blowing our speakers since we (Jukebox and Deadbeat) got a sneaky preview of their debut back in 2007. That self titled debut album was on constant rotation on my stereo, until Big Nial tipped me off to their forthcoming second 'EXPLODING HEAD'.

Since 2007 I've literally been buggin' everyone I know about them, and passing round the album. I've bought the CD alone 4 times, as i keep giving my copy away - the mark of a great record (no ones getting my vinyl copy though).

As a massive Psychocandy fan (Jesus and mary chain) I'm constantly on the look out for a band that can mix ear punishing noise pollution with the sweetest dream pop. So its not an exageration to say that APTBS knocked me sideways. Right off the sidewalk.

Some of their music is straight up heavy Mary Chain heaven whilst at other times there's more of an electronic pulse running through the garage band guitar soup like some ungodly Ministry meets Ride hybrid sometimes more brittle even like Suicide crossed with Loop.

So, hooked on their heady blend of white noise, fuzz assault and dream scapes I set about trying to snag the band for a Newcastle live show. Now after two years of trying I'm pleased to announce the band will be playing at Jukebox (The Other Rooms) on the brilliantly perfect date of Friday 13th Nov.

Heres some quick info on A Place To Bury Strangers..

• They've quickly become known as New York City's loudest band

• They have played with their hero's The Jesus and Mary Chain

• They have played with The Brian Jonestown Massacre

• They toured with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

• They toured with Nine Inch Nails

• They toured with MGMT

• They recently signed to one of our all time favourite labels MUTE records (home of Fad Gadget, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave)

• Guitarist Oliver Ackerman started/runs now infamous underground effects pedal company DEATH BY AUDIO - who have made custom pedals for great bands such as My Bloody Valentine, lightning Bolt, Wilco.

• As well as being an effects pedal company DEATH BY AUDIO is also the bands warehouse/media space/HQ on the first floor of an industrial building in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn NY and operates as a practice space, recording studio, art gallery and live venue.

• Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore played a gig at DEATH BY AUDIO

• The band have also set up DEATH BY AUDIO records to release music made at the warehouse.

• DBA pedals have names like... Interstellar Overdrive, Supersonic Fuzz Gun, Total Sonic Annihilation.

• These names pretty much sum up the sound of A Place To Bury Strangers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFa4a56j52o

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS play Jukebox Fri 13th Nov.

Support to be confirmed.

Tickets on sale now from R.P.M Newcastle.