Punk and London Bands

By Ben King

A blog exploring how Black culture and identity changed Britains pop culture and music throughout the 20th century.

Blog 3: The 1970s

Racial tensions were high come to the turn of the decade, with the National Front forming in 1967, non-white immigrants had yet another government party fighting in the corner of white supremacy. The NF experienced huge growth in the 70s with views that were supported by the Conservative MP, Enoch Powell, who’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech made the daily lives of Black people hell, by taking the shame out of racism in public.[1] Just days after the speech a West Indian wedding party was reported to be attacked by 14 white youths chanting the words ‘Powell, Powell’.[2] Powell’s actions enabled for right-wing parties such as the National Front to appear to be credible, this, in turn, drummed up support for such political parties.[3]

However, not all of the population agreed with these views, an obvious exception would be the migrants that were affected. Those who came at the time of Windrush were now on their second generation, this generation having been born in Britain and as they had been brought up in the country, it was their home and the only home they had ever known. This made for a generation that had a very different attitude to the ingrained racism of Britain than their parents, this generation was a lot more assertive and confrontational.[4] Ska and Reggae work for them as a link to the culture of their family and with this, an image of social rebellion was built around these styles of this music.[5] As time passed and ska continued not to hit mainstream and Reggae took over by storm, as discussed for the Black British youth, reggae was a way of expressing social rebellion against discrimination. As expressed by Caroline Coon, ‘reggae carried the torch of protest that white rock music had in the late 1960s but then lost’[6]

It was this rejection of political values that initially link reggae to punk. Punk’s relationship with the Black British community is often misconceived. This is because, on the surface, and onlooker may look at the punk genre and just see white people occasionally making use of the swastika symbol. However, with the punk movement, these things should not have been taken at face value, when in fact within punk ‘irony was currency’[7] and the movement itself was extremely anti-authoritarian and anti-racism.[8] The relationship between punk and reggae can be seen as an early exercise in multiculturalism.[9]

The relationship between punk and reggae led to the movement of ‘Rock against racism’. This concept was one first thought of in 1976 by a small group of politically active music fans that experienced racist remarks of Eric Clapton’s and so decided to write into the NME, calling for a movement against the ‘racist poison in rock music’[10] The organization’s slogan was ‘Reggae, Soul, Rock and Roll, Jazz, Funk and Punk: Our music’[11] and with that RAR, with it 300 organised gigs, five carnivals and anti-racist campaigns kept running between 1976-1981.[12]

  [1] Michael Higgs, “From the street to the state: making anti-fascism anti-racist in 1970s Britain,” Race and Class Vol 58 No 1 (July 1, 2016): 68.

[2] Higgs, “From the street to the state: making anti-fascism anti-racist in 1970s Britain,” 68.

[3] Higgs, “From the street to the state: making anti-fascism anti-racist in 1970s Britain,” 68.

[4] Jon Stratton, “Skin deep: ska and reggae on the racial Faultline in Britain, 1968-1981,” Popular Music History Vol 5 No 2 (21 Nov 2011): 194.

[5] Joseph Heathcott, “Urban Spaces and Working-Class Expressions across the Black Atlantic: Tracing routes of Ska,” Radical History Review issue 87 (2003): 184.

[6] Stratton, “Skin deep: ska and reggae on the racial Faultline in Britain, 1968-1981,” 200.

[7] Alessandro G. Moliterno, “What Riot? Punk Rock Politics, Fascism, and Rock Against Racism.” Last modified 2012, http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/612/2/what-riot-punk-rock-politics-fascism-and-rock-against-racism

[8] “What Riot? Punk Rock Politics, Fascism, and Rock Against Racism.”

[9] Stratton, “Skin deep: ska and reggae on the racial Faultline in Britain, 1968-1981,” 201.

[10] Ian Goodyer, “Rock Against Racism: Multiculturalism and Political Mobilization, 1976-81,” Immigrants & Minorities 22:1: 44.

[11] Goodyer, “Rock Against Racism: Multiculturalism and Political Mobilization, 1976-81,” 45.

[12] Goodyer, “Rock Against Racism: Multiculturalism and Political Mobilization, 1976-81,” 45.