Skrewdriver - the ultimate punk band

M

martin

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It's just occurred to me - Skrewdriver were the ultimate punk band, weren't they? Let's look at the evidence. Name me one other punk band

- whose records are completely unavailable through mainstream outlets

- who have been kicked off 4 indie labels (including an NF-run one!)

- who it's completely socially unacceptable to say you like

- whose T-shirts would guarantee you physical aggro wearing them in London

- who took irony to unparalleled heights by preaching white power over songs written by blacks ("Johnny B. Goode") and Jewish homosexuals ("Tomorrow Belongs to Me")

- who died in a mysterious van crash with another band called Violent Storm, which led to the classic newspaper obituary, 'Violent Storm Hits Bridge'

- who recorded a version of '19th Nervous Breakdown' and then terminated the song after the second chorus cos the drummer couldn't keep up

Whereas Crass, on the other hand

- produced their own records, sold them at discount prices (to undercut the solidly communist Angelic Upstarts' record sales), thereby proving their compliance with Thatcher's 'laissez-faire' approach to independently run business and promoted individualism over collective action.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
black flag, without any doubt.

if we use your criteria, bad brains come quite close
 
M

martin

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Rachel Verinder said:
But where does this leave Eric Clapton?
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Well, along with Elvis "I was joking, honest, my best mate is blind" Costello, they did some of the groundwork, but ultimately didn't have the oomph to follow it through. Kind of like Spurs, it saddens me to say, but let's not get into football. See, Eric played the blues badly too - if he'd stuck to his guns after the hangover faded, he could now have a bunch of lunatics setting up websites that claim,

"Throughout the ages certain men have stepped up at the proper times to guide the Aryan race from it's destructive course
and lead it down the path to salvation. Adolf Hitler, Commander George Lincoln Rockwell and Dr. William Pierce
are all important examples, however no one has ever been able to open as many youthful eyes as Eric Clapton"
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
martin said:
Yeah, but you wouldn't get Skrewdriver played over a Wannado commercial.
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i've only seen this once- i was in the kitchen and heard it on the telly. my first thought was "bloody hell, that 's black flag on the telly"
my second thought after seeing the advert was "oh please god, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

in addition, skrewdriver were shite and scared- how often did they play outside of the 'whitepride' scene in their later years? pussies ;)
 
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M

martin

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matt b said:
in addition, skrewdriver were shite and scared- how often did they play outside of the 'whitepride' scene in their later years? pussies ;)
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They put on some wigs and changed their name to Candy Flip
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
thinking about it, dr and the crippins run black flag close- exploding cabbages get bonus points.
 
M

martin

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matt b said:
thinking about it, dr and the crippins run black flag close- exploding cabbages get bonus points.
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I used to have a live EP by them, sounded like three people were in the audience. It was really awful, but funny when John Peel used to play them.

Actually I've changed my mind. The ultimate punk band of all time were Terry and the Idiots, from that film 'DOA'. An absolute racket that flies in the face of all writings about punk. The bit where he accidentally hits himself in the face with the microphone and the old bloke pours beer down his trousers - that's social realism alright
 
B

bassnation

the abyss
martin said:
I used to have a live EP by them, sounded like three people were in the audience. It was really awful, but funny when John Peel used to play them.

Actually I've changed my mind. The ultimate punk band of all time were Terry and the Idiots, from that film 'DOA'. An absolute racket that flies in the face of all writings about punk. The bit where he accidentally hits himself in the face with the microphone and the old bloke pours beer down his trousers - that's social realism alright
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that sounds as good as peter and the test tube babies, a band whos crowning moment was a touching and senstively written ode to getting off with a woman and then finding that they still have male genitals during a fumble in the car.
 
R

Raw Patrick

Well-known member
I'll stand up and say that I really like Skrewdriver - the pre-white power stuff anyway (I've never heard any of that.) The only link between the first line up and the (overtly racist) second is the singer and supposedly the rest of the original line up were none too happy with what he did. They could have been making money playing punk weekenders at holiday camps now. The Guardian magazine ran a good cover story about Ian Stewart after he died.

I also love Terry and the Idiots - their pub cover of a Sex Pistols song in a reggae style is great, as are Terry's words of wisdom throughout DOA. Where's Terry Sylvester now? I'd love to know (but not quite enough to spend two seconds googling him.) US post-hardcore group Unwound actually formed a tribute band to him!
 
B

bassnation

the abyss
Raw Patrick said:
I'll stand up and say that I really like Skrewdriver - the pre-white power stuff anyway (I've never heard any of that.) The only link between the first line up and the (overtly racist) second is the singer and supposedly the rest of the original line up were none too happy with what he did. They could have been making money playing punk weekenders at holiday camps now. The Guardian magazine ran a good cover story about Ian Stewart after he died.
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i'm not inclined to believe that the band wasn't happy with the direction. after all they played hundreds of white power gigs. surely someone could have stood up and said something, or walked out?

used to like cartoon punk band, the exploited - even got a few 7"s round here somewhere but again the attraction pales when you actually read some of the lyrics.

funnily enough as we are talking about this, a few weeks back i collected all my old punk records from my mums house - shit loads of obscure 7"s by bands like generic, concrete sox etc - all with massively earnest animal liberation front sleeve notes. some of it doesn't sound too good 17 years on, but i found myself still loving conflict especially (and crass of course). i'm thinking of sampling all that guitar feedback that they always have at the end of their tunes and doing something weird with it.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
don't forget heresy- a mighty band. a member also plays in post hardcore/noise monkeys wolves (of greece)
(i think they've split up though).
 
R

Raw Patrick

Well-known member
Bassnation:

I meant that the original members of the band weren't happy, the ones in the pre-white power incarnation of the band when they were signed to Chiswick records. It was only after this line up split up that Stewart reformed as a white power act (if I'm remembering The Guardian piece correctly, this was bcz Stewart thought he'd get most cash this way!) There's a good interview w/the feller who ran Chiswick somewhere on the net where he explains how the original gtrist was really upset bcz he was from a solid socialist background.

Skrewdriver later disowned all their early singles for being negative and not socially responsible, unlike racism, homophobia and thuggery!
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
This is thin ice, even for you, Martin! :eek: ;)

Violent Storm's one way ticket to valhalla was a seperate incident, btw. A spate of nazi car crashes = obviously a conspiracy-tastic situation for gullible white power fans.

"anti-social" is pretty good, by anybody's standards, but the rest is pish. They (by which I mean, "he" - it was never really a "group" more of a vehicle for one bloke?) also lose millions of points for trying to be overly serious in their politics and setting up a political movement (Blood & honour) rather than just mouthing off about the state of the world like real punks. All that respectability shit - "honour" is so unpunk!

Tho B&H was essentially a vehicle for shifting t-shirts, which brings us back to the great rock 'n' roll swindle? "heh, show John your t-shirt Bill! He's got this great KKK t-shirt from that B&H shop". "Bill, you fucking retard, what are you doing wearing that under your jumper?" "Well I like the music, y'know" "Do you believe in all that stuff, then?" "Well yeah!" "Really?!" "Well... sort of, y'know". :rolleyes:
 
M

michael

Bring out the vacuum
bassnation said:
that sounds as good as peter and the test tube babies, a band whos crowning moment was a touching and senstively written ode to getting off with a woman and then finding that they still have male genitals during a fumble in the car.
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Isn't that a verse from Pharcyde's 'Oh Shit'? :D
 
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